Lifetime
by S.V Random
Summary: There are some people you're meant to spend your life with... whether you learn to like it or not. People who will always come back to you, no matter what.
1. Here again

Koenma's office hadn't changed much, if at all since the first time they had all stood around the toddler's enormous desk. They hadn't been any happier about it then than they were now. With the possible exception of Kuwabara, whose first visit this actually was, and even he had gotten tired of waiting almost right away. With no clock visible it was pretty much impossible to tell just how long they had been standing around. And sadly it didn't look like they would be finding out any time soon either. Even Botan, who'd been sent to gather the somewhat scattered group, had no definite idea why. All she had been able to tell then was that Koenma had been upset about something when he'd sent for them, so it had to be important.

That explained the tension that was hanging in the air when Spirit world's prince finally joined them some time later. After all it had to be world ending if he was gathering them in one place about it. It was a testament to Yusuke's increased patience that he waited for Koenma to be seated before saying anything. ''Alright Koenma… What was so urgent huh? Why did we all have to come all the way here?" He'd meant for if to sound at least a bit menacing, but any actual anger he might have been holding onto had vanished once he found himself faced with Koenma in his actual toddler form rather than the teenaged one he normally adopted around them.

''I realize none of you must be very happy about being here, but... I wasn't sure who else I could trust to handle this situation... ''

The group exchanged an almost worried look before Botan moved toward the desk. ''Sir has something that serious happened?" she asked almost fearfully.

''I'm not entirely sure...'' The tone those words were said with only served to earn him a mixture of worried and annoyed looks that forced him to continue before one of them cut him off. ''one of our investigators has been missing for several weeks now."

''That's what you brought us here for? You have got to be kidding me! I was in the middle of something when Botan dragged me up here for some emergency. And it's just because you can't keep track of the people working for you?" Any patience Yusuke may have gained over the last few years had finally reached its breaking point.

''It's a bit more complicated than that. If it were only a matter of her being late to report it would be unusual, but not something to panic over.'' Sighing a little, Koenma leaned back in his chair and pressed a button on his desk. ''Ask Ayame to join us." He ignored their curious looks for the several seconds that passed before the large office door opened and a dark haired woman strolled in. ''You wanted to see me sir?"

''Yes Ayame, it's about Hiroko.''

''She still hasn't been found then?" Her face may not have shown it but there was a hint of concern in her voice.

''I'm afraid not." Koenma admitted quietly. ''Would you fill us in on what's been happening so far…?"

''Yes Sir..." Ayame straightened a little more, ''The missing investigator is a demon named Hiroko. She has worked for our intelligence department for nearly six years now. In that time she has proven to be surprisingly reliable. The information she has provided for us has been accurate and at times invaluable. She has never failed to report at the appointed time at least until last month. A week prior to the missed appointment Hiroko was given a new assignment. Since that meeting no one seems to have seen her. I'm afraid that is all we know Sir."'

"I see... nothing new to report then." Koenma released a low moan of frustration and Uncertainty.

''That's all? She's probably just taking her time getting back." Having dismissed the entire thing Yusuke was on his way back to the door before he even started speaking and nearly to it by the time he finished.

''You mentioned a new assignment. Isn't it possible she's only been delayed somehow?"

''Kurama'' Yusuke groaned turning back to face him, "don't ask questions... That's what he wants. For us to get all interested and go waste a lot of time on this."

Ignoring the objection Kurama Continued, ''depending on the nature of the assignment a delay of a few weeks may not be anything to panic over."

''Compared to many she's been sent on this one was nothing difficult. With the barrier lowered and even higher level demons able to pass between the Worlds at will some monitoring has become necessary.'' Ayame answered.

''She was following someone?" He had known even before Kurama spoke that the question was coming and for the first time... ever... Yusuke found himself wondering why the rest of the team couldn't be more like Hiei and just stand in the corner at least pretending to be uninterested. He already knew they were going to be pulled into this, but that didn't mean they had to make it easy for the guy.

"A mid-level demon, which as far as we can tell had nothing to do with her disappearance… however…" Ayame hesitated long enough to receive permission from Koenma in the form of a nod before continuing, "We suspect that he was what you might call collateral damage. When we started looking into her disappearance we discovered that the demon had been killed."

"Killed?"

A scoff from the corner revealed that Hiei was indeed paying attention and brought theirs to him for the first time since he'd entered the room. "She probably killed him herself and evaded you. This is a waste of time."

''As much as I hope that isn't the case it is a possibility. However over the years Hiroko reported directly to me a great deal of the time. As a result she is almost intimately familiar with our security measures. It is possible that she has been abducted for that reason. If so we could be looking at a far more serious problem than just a missing employee. "

''Yeah…? And what do you want us to do about it? You don't ever know where this girl is or if she double crossed you or something."

''Listen to you guys! There's a girl out there who might be in serious trouble and I for one, am going to help her." Kuwabara's announcement cut across in the usual over dramatic fashion, revealing his excitement with the possibility of playing hero. It only earned him annoyed and indulgent looks from the rest of the room's inhabitants.

"And what use will you be if she is?"

Before Hiei's jibe could start the argument if had been destined to Kurama chose to draw attention away by asking more questions. Not that either Koenma or Ayame had many answers to supply. They knew surprisingly little about the demon who had been working for and with them. Despite claiming she was friendly they weren't aware of any friends she might have had, or even all of the places she stayed on a normal basis. Eventually Ayame offered to procure a copy of Hiroko's file for them, and Yusuke knew when Kurama accepted that all their weekend plans were a lost cause.


	2. Under Fire

''According to Ayame this is where Hiroko was staying the last time they met, but apparently she moves around a lot.'' Botan announced leading the group into what looked like some sort of abandoned warehouse. Taking one glance around the dim room she cringed a little as several crystalline drops of a liquid they were all probably thinking wasn't just water fell from the distant ceiling to the grime coated floor.

Ignoring their continued squeamishness and the less than hygienic conditions that had caused it Hiei made his way into the room. After all he was hardly a stranger to abandoned or underused buildings; he'd stayed in a few himself when it suited him. This wasn't one of them. Normally he lingered in the buildings closer to the center of town where there were more of them and he would be harder to locate or in the forested area outside the city limits. This particular building was situated on the edge of an extremely overgrown field, which had all but swallowed the long gravel drive way that led down to a pothole strewn street. Really for a warehouse it was a lot smaller than the shadowy interior made it appear. Crossing the main room Hiei picked his way around the piles of debris left from broken crates and half disintegrated cardboard boxes. His footsteps echoed quietly back to him from the battered walls and crumbling ceiling, telling him that he was the only one actually going inside and for a moment he wondered why that was considering he probably cared the least out of the group.

''She actually lives here?" Kuwabara's voice echoed loudly off of the high ceiling as he started forward. Frowning he looked around. "It's a dump. Couldn't she stay with a friend or at a hotel or something?"

''Well... maybe she isn't very fond of crowds." Botan answered with a shrug before, admittedly hesitantly, going inside.

''Well... '' Yusuke mocked, crossing his arms behind his head before he took two steps into the room whirled around and started slowly back. ''Looks like no one's home. Too bad… At least we tried." He jumped a little when a hand landed on each of his shoulders and glanced over first one at Kuwabara and then the other at Botan ''what? "

''We agreed to help Yusuke. We at least have to try to find her." Botan insisted, dragging him back into the warehouse. Yusuke groaned but didn't argue. Instead he followed the pair into the dark room doing his best to mutter quietly enough under his breath that the others couldn't overhear him.

Tuning them out had become second nature sometime in the last several years. Employing that almost remarkable talent Hiei left them near the entrance, and chose to disregard Kurama making his way to the far side of the room, instead finding his own path around the stacks of boxes that had been left standing further back in the space. coming around the corner of one he was almost surprised to find himself already at the rear wall, and turning a bit to the side he stared into a dark opening just wide enough that it might have been either a walkway or simply a crack of space left between the crates and back wall. Quickly he glanced back toward the murmur of voices elsewhere in the room and only half considered calling them over. With a mental shrug he turned and stepped into the walkway, angling slightly to keep his shoulders from brushing the walls of the cramped passage. Within only a few steps the velvet darkness surrounded him, somehow blocking even the sounds from the room he'd entered from until all he could hear over the silence was his own footsteps and breathing. Eyes narrowing just a little he untwisted his upper body, allowing his shoulders to touch the confining walls and using the contact to gage the passage's width as he progressed along its path.

A whisper of unsteady air tickled through his hair, betraying the opening's presence before he felt the wall to one side drop away and turned to trace it with his fingers before stepping into the alcove. He hit the back after only a few inches and changed course pausing when the rough texture changed to smooth cold metal beneath his hand. Further investigation revealed it to be the side of a ladder mounted to the wall. He recalled from when they'd first entered that the stacks of old crates had been almost exclusively placed along the back wall, piled high enough that the tops were hidden by the shadows that cloaked the ceiling. The ladder must have been concealed behind one of those stacks because there had been no sign of it from the other side. The question left was whether it had been done on purpose or was merely a coincidence. Closing his hand around a rung above his head Hiei found the lowest rung with his foot, hefted himself up, and began climbing.

"See? What did I tell you? This place is empty. There isn't even a rat that's desperate enough to live here." once again all Yusuke received for his comment was a combined glare.

''Perhaps we're missing something..." Kurama murmured turning away from the half shattered overturned crate he'd been examining in search of something that might have been overlooked.

"Speaking of missing stuff, did anyone see where Hiei went?" Frowning around at what he could see of the room Yusuke was still unable to locate the dark figure he'd spent the last couple minutes trying to pinpoint.

''I'm sure he's here somewhere." Botan answered, turning to join him in his search. ''He probably just got bored and went to wait outside."

''Why the hell does he get to go and I'm stuck in here?" Raising his voice Yusuke turned in the direction he guessed the door to be in and called. ''Hiei…! Get your lazy ass in here! If I'm stuck doing this crap so are you!" The shout rang back to him but his own echo was Yusuke's only answer. Although he could have almost sworn he heard someone scoff.

Barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes Hiei continued upward quickly, now able to make out the glint of light on the metal rungs and the faintest trace of their outlines. Unsure of how far he had climbed he was hardly surprised when something solid pressed against the top of his hair, folding it down against his forehead. Reaching up expecting to find the sloped ceiling he was surprise to find a flat surface there instead; a flat surface that lifted slightly against his hand with an almost inaudible groan and the start of a rattle.

Pushing again, harder this time, he forced the square portal above him open, and grasping either side lifted himself through it. The trap door closed behind him once he'd landed on what he assumed to be a floor with a surprisingly quiet thud. Rising slowly to a standing position to keep from striking his head on something Hiei glanced around quickly in search of some source of light. Unable to see anything in the dark that had once again surrounded him he scowled is himself and began channeling energy to his left hand, just enough to form a small flicker of flame licking it's was around and across his palm that cast on almost feeble flickering light around the room.

It had most likely been an office of some sort. A waste basket sat in one corner still half filled with crumpled papers; he couldn't tell if the yellowed quality they possessed was from age or the lighting. a large wooden desk had been left with its end pushed up to one wall, leaving enough space between it and the wall behind it that someone would have been able to sit there comfortably had the chair tipped over to the side of H been positioned in its proper place behind the still cluttered desktop. Hiei would have believed the abandoned look of the narrow room it not for three things: the dark cloth that had been secured over the door and windows with a combination of duct tape, boards and nails, the pair of candles silting with the collection of junk on the desk, and the absolute absence of any trace of dust on anything. He crossed the worn throw rugs that had been spread across the floor to the desk, and lowering his hand lit one wick before letting the flame on his hand die out. Coming around the corner of the desk he was hardly surprised to find a tangled nest of blankets concealed behind it where the chair should have been. Her attempts at covering her tracks may not have been perfect, but would have been enough to deceive a casual searcher. Assuming this haven had been the missing investigator's. Whoever had been here appeared to have taken anything that would have pointed to either their identity or current location.

For the first second after he heard the hidden hinges of the trap door open Hiei almost did not look, certain it was one of the others finally following him into the room. By the time he turned to the entrance the door had closed again, and he knew right away that his original impression had been wrong. The male demon standing next to the door was not one he had ever seen before.

''Did you guys hear that?" looking away from the group Kuwabara looked up in search of what might have caused the thud he had heard coming from somewhere overhead.

''You don't think the roof is about to collapse as you?" Botan asked almost nervously, craning her neck to look up toward the practically invisible ceiling.

There was a long second of quiet as they all tipped their heads back to look. Another disembodied thud drifted down to them, quieter than the last but still a little nerve wracking.

''We need to get out of here." Kurama ordered and instead of moving they all turned to look at him. However before they could question him the scent of smoke drifted down into the dank air they had been breathing. Tiny flakes of ash dropped lazily down as a bright orange glow sprang into existence overhead, casting a harsh light across the dirt and concrete floor as well as the now visibly sagging ceiling. ''Now…!" Kurama prompted again as chunks of flaming wood dripped down onto the crates and boxes. They turned as a group once the dangerous orange tongues began to spread and braking into a run headed for the still ajar door.

Breaking through the sliding metal door into the fresh night air lingering outside Kuwabara skidded to a halt, sending out a spray of gravel as he spun back to the eerily illuminated square not blocked out by the wall. Stopping next to him Botan pulled in a panting breath and joined him watching the ever growing flames. ''What do you think started it?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know... guess it doesn't matter as long as everyone's okay right?" The taller redhead answered glancing around at the group in an attempt to count their numbers and assure himself that he was right. It took a second look to notice they were one person short. ''Uh-oh'' He muttered whirling back and taking a step toward the door, "Hiei's still in there!"

''What…?" Yusuke lunged forward half a step to stare into the inferno that had swallowed the inside of the warehouse.

"Oh no…!" Wide eyed Botan pushed against Yusuke's back, sending him forward a step, ''You've got to go back in and get him!" she demanded over the roar of the flames as a burst of hot air escaped the door, fanning harshly against them all.

"Why the hell do you keep ordering me around huh? Why don't you give Kuwabara some orders for a change?" He demanded sharply, glaring back at her over his shoulder.

"Just go in there and get him!" She snarled, "He could die…!"

"As a group your stupidity is almost painful." The voice was barely a hiss over the spitting cackle of the flames drawing their attention to the single unwavering spot in the world beyond the door. It grew steadily larger, solid in the constantly shifting blinding light that had consumed what had previously been a dark and dingy realm. He emerged from the space a moment later, barely singed and not looking the least bit uneasy about the disaster area he'd just escaped from. The green skinned creature he tossed to the side of where he'd stopped seemed a little less happy about the situation, or probably would have if he'd still been conscious to recognize it.

"Oh… right…" Botan murmured, with the good grace to look just a little sheepish, of course a fire wouldn't be a life threatening event to Hiei, "I guess I forgot for a second there."

Rolling his eyes Yusuke chose to ignore the blue haired woman in favor of turning to poke at the all but lifeless demon lying on the ground near him, "So… where'd you pick him up?" He didn't receive an answer, but he wasn't really expecting one so it was hardly a disappointment.

"Kind of a small fry for all the fireworks, don't you think…?" Kuwabara asked, joining in the examination of the demon.

"He's the one who started it." Hiei defended before he'd really planned to. Truthfully it had been an overturned candle, the one that he'd lit, that had lit the fire, however since it had been the demon who had knocked it over he felt justified in his assumption, though the demon had only tipped the candle over when he'd been thrown across the desk, but that was hardly worth mentioning.

"Really…? Guess he didn't know who he was up against if he thought a little fire would take down one of us." Yusuke muttered, pushing himself up into a standing position once again with a trace of a satisfied smirk lingering on his face.

The long second of silence that followed was broken hesitantly, almost timidly, "Unless… he wasn't after one of you." Botan whispered finally and found herself the second person to draw every eye in the last few minutes.

There was another second of quiet that had every sign of stretching indefinitely before it was also shattered, this time with a deep, heavy sigh, because Yusuke knew that his original feelings about this situation had been the right ones.


	3. New information

Settling back in one of the kitchen chairs of his mother's apartment Yusuke sighed, "Looks like this girl really is in some kind of trouble…" He murmured, turning toward the open door to the balcony. It was difficult to see, but if he looked very carefully he could still make out a trace of smoke escaping the warehouse that they had fled moments before the fire department and police had arrived.

"So it would seem, however we still don't know why." Truthfully they didn't know much of anything. Information on Hiroko, the missing investigator, had still yet to be delivered and Botan had taken the attacker to Spirit World for interrogation, but remained as absent as Ayame with the promised files; which left them milling around the old apartment with no idea of what to do next about the whole frustrating situation.

"I thought Koenma said it was someone trying to scope out Spirit World's defenses or something…" Kuwabara demanded, glancing around at the group as a whole, "That's why we should be doing something isn't it?"

"He said it may be why…" Kurama reminded him gently, before turning toward the window as well, "There could be several reasons. It may have nothing to do with Spirit World at all."

"But we're still going to help her right?" Kuwabara asked softly, "Even if it's not?"

Hiei scoffed quietly, but the other two were quiet for a second before each giving him a single nod. They'd already been pulled into it and as a whole they weren't the type of group to walk away from something once they'd started it. That still didn't leave them with any better idea of what to do about it.

"I'm afraid that may be more difficult than we initially expected." Her voice was not nearly harsh but made them jump as if it had been a scream.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Yusuke demanded, startled by the dark haired woman's appearance by his side.

"You left your door open… I assumed it was an open invitation." Ayame blinked slowly at him before turning to glance at all the others, "There have been some developments Lord Koenma believes you should be made aware of."

"Developments…?" The tone didn't promise good news and the three already gathered at the kitchen table shared a speculating look before turning back to the woman, even Hiei came as close as he was able without actually joining them at the table.

Ayame seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking down to examine the clipboard held securely in her hand, though the lack of movement from her eyes revealed that she wasn't actually reading whatever had been written there. "We may have no choice but to discontinue the investigation."

"What? Why?" Kuwabara surged up into a half standing positing, "Someone might be trying to seriously hurt…"

"They're trying to kill her actually." Once again the lack of emotion in the woman's voice was betrayed by the concern in her eyes. "At least, someone is. The demon you apprehended could only tell us that much, he was unaware of exactly who hired him or why, just that he was meant to capture Hiroko and if he could not, kill her."

"Then why are you going to stop looking for her? Doesn't she work for you guys? Couldn't this be your fault?" Kuwabara continued, outraged on the missing girl's behalf.

"We've run out of options to attempt finding her…" Ayame answered, lowering her eyes to her paperwork once again, "You see… Hiroko's files are missing from the records department."

"Missing?" Kurama actually looked surprised.

"You lost the girl and her paperwork? What kind of pathetic filing system do you guys have anyway?" Yusuke demanded and slumped back in his chair once again. Of course the moment he'd come to accept their involvement things just had to get more complicated. It never failed.

"I may have been inclined to believe it had only been misfiled at first, but now all signs point to the files being purposely removed." Ayame informed them, "Not only the paperwork is missing, any photos we possessed of her are gone and any video surveillance of her missions has been erased… all that remains are mentions of her name on a few reports."

"Someone must have broken in and taken them to try finding her…" Kuwabara insisted suspiciously, leaning back in his chair with a contemplative look.

"There would be evidence of that." Ayame sighed deeply, "It is our belief that Hiroko took the files herself."

"Why would she do such a thing?"

Content to let Kurama handle the questions Yusuke excused himself from the conversation and joined Hiei on the other side of the kitchen, crossing his arms to lean back against the counter. "So… what do you think?"

"That this is entirely a waste of time and effort." Hiei murmured, "She's clearly making a run for it."

"Someone's trying to kill her man, aren't you the least bit interested in trying to help?" He knew even as he asked it that the question was a stupid one, even if Hiei did see the need to help he would never admit it. Knowing that Yusuke didn't need the answer Hiei wouldn't supply. The demon would help, he'd just make a fuss about the whole thing and act like he wasn't interested and wanted nothing to do with it, so basically, the usual. "Never mind, don't answer that. Looks like we might be out of luck anyway…"

"I've said it from the start, she's running."

"Yeah, the question is from what." Yusuke muttered, "First I was with you, I thought she was just trying to ditch Spirit World, but after the whole fire thing I'm thinking she could be stuck in something serious."

"If she is it's her own business and nothing to do with us." Hiei muttered, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the counter he'd positioned himself next to.

"Yeah… I figured you'd say something like that." Sighing Yusuke turned back to the discussion still monopolizing the attention of those at the table. They didn't seem to have covered much ground, Ayame remained convinced that Hiroko had removed her own files from the records department, and the only workable theory as to why that they had come up with appeared to be Kuwabara's which stated that she must have done it to keep whoever was after her from being able to track her that way, which took away from the idea that whoever was after her might have been after her help getting through Spirit World's security.

"So where does that leave us?" Yusuke asked as he joined them again, only half listening as he guzzled down a soda he'd retrieved from the fridge on his way by.

"Pretty much exactly where we began…" Kurama answered, glancing in his direction for only a second before turning back to Ayame. "…with a missing investigator and no way to find her."

"Sure there is." Yusuke interrupted, slamming his nearly empty can onto the table top with a loud ping, "We go look."

"Go look?" Kuwabara turned to him, "You mean you just want to go wander around town and hope we run into her somewhere? We don't even know what she looks like."

"Well unless anyone has any better ideas we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

There was a long second of silence before Kurama sighed, and turned from Yusuke back to Ayame, "He has a point, searching seems to be our only option. Ayame, tell us everything you know about Hiroko."

"Everything…?" She paused for a second, "I… I really don't know that much. She's been surprisingly private as long as I've known her."

"Start with a description then." Kurama offered, "Does she have some distinguishing feature that sets her apart, something specific that we can look for?"

"Actually she's fairly average, just over five feet tall with dark hair and a slim build." Ayame paused, looking down at her paperwork again as if in deep thought for a second before her head snapped upward, "There are her eyes…"

"Her eyes…?" Kuwabara asked quietly, glancing between them all and finally back to Ayame, "What does she have too many or something?"

"No, they're just oddly colored. It's the one thing I always noticed about Hiroko; her eyes are such a light blue it's almost as if they're transparent."

There was something about that statement that struck a familiar cord somewhere in the depths of his mind, but after the first instant of realization Hiei ignored it, forced it away. What did it matter if that reminded him of something anyway, clearly if it had been something important it would have been apparent not just a tingling reminder of something he might have heard once. All that mattered now was that Yusuke seemed to be volunteering them to continue looking for Spirit World's runaway. Something he had no desire to be involved any further in. Planning to make his way inconspicuously toward the door he was surprised to be stopped again by another strangely familiar phrase. "Really being unobtrusive is what makes her such an effective investigator, it's as if people just naturally overlook her." Again he was struck by a bizarre sense of déjà vu and while he wanted to ignore it and just keep going the slight pause his racing thoughts had caused was enough to seal his fate.

"If that's all you can tell us it'll have to be enough… Come on guys, let's get started." Before he could argue Hiei found himself being swept through the doorway with the others.


	4. Hide and Seek

"Who'd have thought demons had night clubs…" Kuwabara's voice was nearly drowned out by the dull roar of music that filled the underground space as they reached the bottom of the metal staircase and stepped onto the concrete floor.

"What I want to know is why we're in one?" Yusuke demanded somewhere ahead of them as he followed Kurama toward a table situated in an alcove on the far side of the basement room they'd found their way into.

Doing his best to ignore the continued explanation, but not entirely able to, Hiei habitually scanned the crowd on his way through, wanting to see any potential threats lurking in the ranks of faceless demons that had gathered here.

"When being hunted you have only three options," Kurama was reminding the two listening to his lecture, "Run, hide or fight back."

"Since there haven't been any unexplained bodies popping up I guess we can assume she isn't fighting back." Yusuke muttered, sliding into the booth ahead of the others once they had claimed a suitably secluded table. "That still doesn't explain why we're here."

Sighing Kurama sank into a seat as well, "According to Ayame, while Hiroko's assignments have occasionally led her elsewhere she's been mostly stationed near our own city so it isn't likely that she's familiar with any other locations in Human World, and with them monitoring the approved crossing points between the worlds it's also unlikely that she's run back to Demon World."

"So we're betting on hide?" Considering the plan to pound the pavement searching had been his Yusuke was feeling a little out of the loop on the whole planning thing, but since Kurama seemed to have a plan he wasn't going to start suggesting another one, just hope he could figure out this one.

"Yes," Anticipating the next batch of questioning Kurama continued, "Being in hiding leaves her only two options, lying low somewhere she isn't likely to be located, but Ayame is aware of her usual hideouts so that puts her at a disadvantage in that regard…"

"Leaving her with the option of attempting to blend in…" Hiei interjected, tired of the lengthy explanations and hoping to cut it short.

"So we're going to stake out the place with the largest number of demons and hope she shows up in the crowd." It was far from a perfect plan, but at the moment was probably the best they had. That didn't mean he had to like it. Glancing around Yusuke's shoulders slumped as he released an exaggerated exhale, "Man, there's no chance this is going to work. There are way too many people in here and we don't even know what this girl looks like. I was going to just suggest we get Botan to use one of those compass things or something, but doing this we're just leaving everything up to chance."

Without waiting for what was sure to be a sickeningly optimistic reassurance Hiei stepped away from the table and began wandering away into the throng of oblivious demons assembled in the converted cellar. Bored already, and wishing to be nearly anywhere else he considered strongly just leaving them here and washing his hands of the whole mess their obvious boredom had gotten them embroiled in. This was their mess after all, what did he care about a missing girl? If she was unable to save herself that would be her own fault and no business of theirs. This wasn't some helpless human after all, the rules for demons were harsher and they were expected to rise to the challenge or accept the consequences.

Still he glanced back through the milling moving bodies to where the others were sitting and released a sharp exhale in place of a sigh. If they wanted to look what was the point of arguing with them, it wasn't like they were going to find the girl anyway. Accepting his fate as being stuck in this place indefinitely he pushed his way across the room in search of a way to occupy his time. Kurama's assumptions were only that, guesses. There was no assurance that she would show up here just because a certain fox demon speculated that she would attempt to hide her energy among the banks of demons present, he wouldn't, of course if there had been someone after him he would have simply killed them and been done with it so it was probably a bad comparison, but Hiei felt as justified in his assumptions as Kurama felt in his, and he had no intention of being bored stiff all night when his were proven to be right.

Having been to a few of these places in the past, though usually for reasons that did not include entertainment, he found what he was looking for quickly enough, a partially disguised door carved into a back wall and covered with what appeared to be thick piece of what had once been a carpet or blanket. At least in the back room there would be something worth watching. Without bothering to throw a second glance at his distant companions he made his way the rest of the way across the larger room and slipped into the next smaller one.

The music was quieter here, a dull thrum pounding in from the sound system in the last, but the crowd was far louder, the cause of that could be traced to a chain link enclose placed near the center of the room. The demons inside weren't exceptionally powerful, but they seemed to be entertaining the crowd with their antics, even if he found the fight bored him quickly. It was probably because of that that he saw her, a small shape on the far side of the room that likewise didn't seem to be watching the fight. There was really nothing that should have made her stand out in the least, at first he wasn't even certain the figure was female, cloaked as she was in a hooded sweatshirt that was large enough that it hung down nearly to her knees, tips of dark hair poking out of the drawn up hood that shrouded her face in shadows. He watched her without looking directly, keeping her for several seconds on the edge of his vision before chancing a brief glance her way and returning her to the peripheral.

How she noticed his inconstant and brief looks in her direction he wasn't sure, but she began to move as if she had, as if she sensed his eyes searching her out and shifted in response to test without being obvious if someone was watching. She moved slowly down the wall, a step or two at a time, then crossed the room before slipping discreetly back into the darker and more densely populated room on the opposite side of the curtain. Hiei was nearly to the door himself when he realized that he was not the person she was fleeing as three demons struggled to push past each other and get through the door. Her instincts must have been better than he'd suspected because even with his talent for spotting trouble he hadn't noticed the other demons not paying attention to the fight.

He didn't rush into the next room, didn't run to tell the others. Again there was no promise that this was in fact Hiroko, the missing investigator Spirit World wanted back so badly. And he was hardly the hero type. In fact he was still hoping that this evening would prove Kurama's hunches wrong, because he sincerely wanted to avoid any situation that would put that smug I-told-you–so smirk on the other's face. Regardless this warranted investigation on his part. If it proved to be the right girl he'd be able to apprehend and hand her off to Spirit World, ensuring an end to the whole debacle and no further nights wasted in team meetings and searching places such as this.

It took him a surprisingly long time to find even a trace of her in the main room, and apparently he wasn't the only one suffering under the task as the three demons he'd followed out had stopped a few steps beyond the door to turn in circles, obviously searching for someone, and oblivious to the slip of a shadow slinking through the mob around a makeshift bar on the far side of the room. Slipping back closer to the wall to keep from being seen Hiei circled the room on the outskirts of the crowd, arriving at the bar just as a door behind it slipped back into its frame. A door he had noticed upon first entering and judged likely to lead to a back exit. Quickly he stepped behind the countertop and crossed to the other side of it fast enough to avoid being seen, wrenched the door half way open, just far enough to step through it and closed it again.

The hallway he stepped into was miniscule, the dingy walls retained the color of concrete and he could see small paths of water damage and cracks in their surface. It reeked of dust. The only light came from a dully glowing uncovered bulb swinging at the far end of the passage, and several steps further along the walkway a quickly moving figure cast a long shadow back toward him.

"Stop…!" He ordered sharply, moving forward to catch her as the figure froze and in a whirl of dark fabric spun back toward him. He could have sworn he heard a gasp. He didn't rush toward her since she wasn't trying to evade him just yet. Stalking toward her Hiei attempted to see through the shadows still cloaking the upper part of her face, but it seemed impossible. He paused as her sternly pinched lips softened, then parted just slightly, bits of chin length black hair falling forward to frame them.

"It's… it's really you…" A female voice floated softly, haltingly out of the shadows, startling him into stillness both with the words and the strangely familiar quality of it. A small hesitant hand emerged from a too long sleeve, reaching toward him and reflexively Hiei leaned back and away.

"What are you talking…?" The question didn't have a chance to finish as he heard the door click shut behind him.

"Found you!" Several voices shouted and he heard another gasp before the previously hesitant hand snaked back and she spun, twisting away from him and the advancing demons that shoved their way past him chasing her down the hall.

A shout echoed forward over the ringing footsteps and before Hiei had moved they had caught up to her. He watched the dark hood being pulled down, revealing her short black hair seconds before the side of her head was slammed hard into the concrete. He took half a step forward as she began to slip down the wall only to be caught by another demon and slammed face down against the floor. Her arm was wrenched up backward by one as another placed his foot firmly in the center of her back stomping hard enough that she arched up with a cry of pain.

"Run…" The word was mouthed more than spoken as she collapsed against the floor panting and bit down on another scream. She tipped her head up then, forcing her eyes open to check if he had gone. Their gazes met… and he remembered.

"Kotori…"


	5. Remembering Me?

He remembered her hair being longer. The true deeply purple shade of the strands was only obvious once it had grown out past her shoulders, and even then only in the right light. He remembered her face being softer, as if the extra length of those strands had blurred the point of her nose and the sharp line of her jaw. But her eyes remained exactly as they always had, ice reflecting the sky. That had been the description that struck him the first time he'd seen them and every time since, the deadly cold of ice overcome by the soft warmth of the sky. The comparison had seemed almost too accurate the first time, when he'd thought their owner was meant to destroy him, and long before he'd known death had blue hair, talked too much and rode an oar.

XXX _Anime rule #17: There's always time for a flashback _XXX

At first he'd thought the clouds were soft cushions that would catch him. That he would land on one and drift away through the sky on it. He learned quickly when he reached the first that he'd been wrong. Like everything else he'd been exposed to the clouds were cold, harsh. The sharp wet mist slapped and stung where his skin had been left uncovered by the wrappings he'd been cocooned in. Helpless to stop himself he tumbled down through the vapors, catching occasional glimpses of bright blue sky and a lighter version glinting in places on the floating chunk of land he'd been thrown from.

And then he felt it; the solid thud of hitting something. His course was changed as he pinged off of it and started spinning faster toward the ground that waited endless miles below. Overhead a startled wrenching shriek echoed through the rushing air, and as he searched for the source he became aware of something else, of something holding onto him.

They had said before dropping him that the fall would kill him. This must have been death then, coming to keep him from reaching the ground. Why the instinct to fight erupted from somewhere inside him at that moment was not something he would ever think to question, and for the first of what would be countless times that was exactly what he did; fight. At least he tried the best he could. Almost frenziedly he twisted, pulling and striking at the confining bandages in an effort to throw death off of him.

It was the eyes that stopped him. Wide and terrified they finally appeared in front of him, staring into his from a face mostly obscured by whipping strands of dark hair. The color struck him as conformation at first, ice like he'd seen before he was dropped, something he'd come to see as an instrument of his doom, but still he stopped… because death wasn't supposed to be afraid. As he ceased struggling the strands of hair were finally swept aside, revealing a small round face dominated by those sky reflecting orbs. A girl; he'd seen enough of the older version to know the difference by sight, and to recognize the absolute fear etched into her infantile features. But instead of recoiling and forcing him away as he had come to expect her small fingers, nearly the same size as his own, curled into the bandages, clinging as desperately to the bindings as if they were all that existed in the world.

It took him a second to recognize the extra quick beats as more than flapping fabric and tearing his eyes away from hers he stared passed her until he saw them, small and coated with tiny downy objects the same soft grey the clouds had looked from high above, that shifted and fought against the air and for a second an impossible idea lodged somewhere in the very depths of his soul, that perhaps she was a piece of the sky, or of one of those deceptively soft looking clouds that had broken off in an attempt to drag him back. A hope he dismissed quickly as he watched the delicate feathers torn free of the appendages. Because her wings weren't strong enough to stop them, and surely the sky would have protected itself better than that. And that meant she was just a girl, falling through the sky like he was. And if he realized that those wings couldn't save them both surely the girl they belonged to must have as well, must have known that she would stand a better chance of survival without being attached to him. So it made no sense that instead of releasing her hold she gripped him tighter, shifting her hands from the bandages only to secure them around his as she fought desperately, instinctively to stabilize and slow their descent.

She accomplished that much at least, they were still falling at fantastic speed, though really it felt more like floating, but now more slowly than before and the spinning had stopped with the frantic beating of her wings. They had left the clouds behind now and he could see the ground rising up for them, so surely she would let him go now and pull free to save herself. Realizing this he didn't return her grip on his hand. And again the nameless girl surprised him, twisting their hands so she could force her fingers between his, bettering her grip on him even when he had been ready to release her. His gaze lifted from their hands back to hers and he waited a moment longer before returning the grip she was keeping on his fingers, but not tightly enough to keep her from slipping free when she inevitably would abandon him.

The splash was deafening and jarring. The frigid liquid slipped around him, rushing up and filling his vision with white bubbles and foggy liquid. It surged between them, fighting to and somehow unable to rip them apart. He bobbed to the surface and saw her dark head sink beneath the water, pulled as far as her short arms would allow away from him, and as he started to go under again as well an enormous hand reached out of the sky and caught her, dragging her up from the water and by association lifting him upward as well.

The water didn't want to let him go, it clung and pulled at him, weighing him down as the large shape beyond the girl tried to lift them. He heard her grunt with the effort of holding him; saw the flash of pain in her large light blue eyes just as he felt the stab of it in his own hands as his joints were wrenched. Then he felt her fingers slipping and her already impossibly large eyes widened further, he felt her grip clench as she tried desperately to hold onto him, their water slicked fingers unable to find purchase on each other and in the last instant after his hand slipped away from hers just before he tumbled back into the water he heard a high wailing screech escape her that followed him into the gurgling depths of the river.

Rising again to the surface he brought his fingers up against his face and peeled away a small dark grey feather that had stuck to his cheek, clenched it tightly in his fists with the rope of the necklace he'd been given before he dropped. And even as he sank back into the water he knew he was going to live; because they had said that the fall would kill him and fate had put someone there to make sure it wouldn't. He was meant to survive, because bits of the sky didn't fall to stop death for just anyone.

XXXXXX

"Does anyone else feel that?" In an instant all the faces around the table adopted concerned looks and any slouching posture was replaced by ramrod stiff spines.

"Yeah… Where the hell did Hiei go?"

It would never be truly clear what drew their attention to the right spot on the far side of the room so quickly, it might have been the first demons running away from it, the surprised yells or the door exploding out of its hinges to fly across the room in a flaming smoking streak before it shattered into cinders against the far wall. Whatever it might have been they were all standing and running toward the subsiding orangey glow radiating from the gaping hole the door had left in the wall, fighting through the crowd fighting to get away from the same spot.

X meanwhile, in the hall…

It had been habit that made him save her, an instinct burned into his bones that had him moving before he'd consciously made a plan to do so, before a coherent thought could be formed in his brain in fact. Pure absolute rage snuck up on him, clouding his vision long enough that the flames had already escaped and done most of their damage before he was able to see what he'd done. When he did Hiei still couldn't find it in himself to care. His gaze fell immediately beyond the dissolving, roasted bodies to the girl struggling to lift herself with one arm from the floor and despite himself he started forward, denying all the while that it was her, but as he caught the arm she was lifting herself with a familiar tingle of energy skittered up over his skin, proving what his eyes had insinuated. It had to be…

XXXXXX

The return trip always took longer. It didn't seem to at first when it was all victorious whoops and celebration, but eventually the energy faded and there was just a long trip to be completed and a heavy load to be carried now that the raid was finished and the spoils had been collected. The party would pick up again once those goods were sold or traded, not that he would have a part in that, he really didn't want to be, this was just what life consisted of.

He was actually tired when they finally decided to stop for the night, at a building they'd found constructed in the midst of a copse of trees along the edge of a high cliff. Dropping quickly from the reptilian insect hybrid he'd been given to ride Hiei wasn't one of the ones to rush toward the door. It was only fun if they attacked him first, besides these people would probably just run off without a fight anyway. This wouldn't be the first time they'd taken over someone's house. Under normal circumstances they would find a place to camp, but the stormy skies promised rain and this far from their usual surroundings proper shelter would be difficult to locate.

"Boss…!" The voice from the door drew his eyes as well as the larger demon's to the one standing in the door, "Looks like someone got here before we did…" A thud from somewhere further inside stopped the words, and the demon speaking turned back and vanished into the interior. A few seconds later the larger demon that had been standing outside with him went to join the others, leaving Hiei standing alone outside holding the reins of their many steeds. Ignoring whatever might have been going on inside he went about finding a place to tie them, only bothering to look back once he'd secured them somewhere and the muffled noises that had been coming from inside the small house had yet to stop.

Now marginally curious he made his way to and through the half open doorway, stepping into a small dimly lighted room. They had congregated in one corner for some reason, and it took a moment for him to understand what their half shouts and orders were about.

"Come on little girl, just put it down already…"

"You can't hold out forever…"

"We'll bust through eventually so just…"

Confused he pushed into their ranks and in an instant froze.

The barrier was only visible when one of them struck it, which they were doing again and again in an effort to break through. The cloudy spots on the walls appeared quickly and faded slowly and with each hard strike the girl cowering inside flinched visibly. His appearance with them caused a momentary pause and she glanced up quickly before squeezing her eyes closed and shrinking in on herself again. He'd recognized her right away, and that brief flash of her eyes was all the confirmation he needed. Her; he knew it was her, the girl that had fallen through the sky with him, the one who had tried to catch him.

"Stop…!" He'd ordered before he realized he'd spoken and was as surprised as they were to hear his own voice. Surprised, either that he would be daring to give them orders or that he was the one to stop an assault, they did as he said, casting the boy confused looks, but the only one he was focusing on was hers.

Once the strikes on her protection stopped she looked up fully, and he saw the fear drain quickly from her face, a spark of something appeared in her eyes that made him wonder for a second if she might have known him as well.

With his eyes locked on hers he stepped forward, forgetting the barrier that crumbled in front of him like thin paper in a rainstorm, melting out of his path as he stepped toward her and without a word or a thought about the action he held his hand out to her. Hers hardly hesitated before she accepted, and a strange tingle shot up his arm from where her fingers brushed against his. Both silent he pulled her to her feet and past the others out of the room.

XXXXXX

Oblivious to the pounding of running feet entering the hall he guided her to rest against one wall before backing away and sinking down to sit against the opposing one. "It is you…" He breathed, staring at her with wide eyed disbelief.

"Surprise…" She responded through shallow pants of air, and despite the pain plastered across her face she managed to flash him a trace of an all too familiar smile.


	6. Caught up

With one of their members officially missing and in danger the intelligence department had gone into overdrive, however there seemed to be precious little to find out. That didn't mean they had been entirely unsuccessful though. A member of the department had turned up something.

Holding tightly onto both her oar and the pieces of paper in her hand Botan grumbled a bit under her breath about the group being hard to find. As much as she wanted to she couldn't really blame them for leaving without her, she had been gone for quite a while after all. Still they could have left her a note or something to let her know where they had gone. But Yusuke had never been one for hiding, and while he may have normally kept his energy suppressed to a fairly low level it was possible for her to track him with a demon compass now if the situation called for it. As she glanced down at the compass' needle to ensure she was still going the right direction Botan's eyes flicked to the two pages she was clenching in that fist and increased her speed. What she had would definitely be helpful to them once she managed to catch up.

XXX

It was one of those things that she supposed would never change, and that she would never understand. Somehow she forgot just how red his eyes were until she was looking into them, not always, there were days she remembered them as vividly as if she was staring at them even when she hadn't seen him for years, but other times the striking shade of crimson would escape her memory and when the realization struck her it was nearly dizzying.

Doing her best to ignore the lingering warmth from where his hand had been on her arm and the strange prickling energy that she had also forgotten washed over her whenever they came into contact, Kotori remained where he'd placed her against the wall, watching him sink down to sit silently across from her. A million words trembled on the edge of her tongue, every one of them unspeakable. All she could think was that he didn't look very happy to see her before the continued dull ache in her arm and shoulder pulsed harshly, forcing her eyes closed and away from him.

XXX

She noticed the commotion below a moment before double checking the read out on her compass and sighing for a moment she wondered why she'd bothered with using the tool at all. Considering this group's track record she probably could have just flown around the city looking for signs of trouble and trusted that to find them faster than she'd be able to.

Cautiously tucking the papers she'd been holding so carefully into a pocket Botan once again adjusted her speed and route. Lying almost flat along the oar handle she soared downward and through the door the bodies had been leaving through. Shouting a general apology to all the evacuating demons she knocked over along the way she traced their path down a stair case and into a large room. Not every demon had run to escape, but Botan ignored those still standing around. If she knew them they would be right in the middle of the action, and with a quick glance around to find it that's where Botan headed as well.

X

Yusuke came around the corner ready for almost anything to be waiting on the other side; eager enemies, an injured friend, and even a charred graveyard. What he wasn't prepared to find was a staring contest.

Surprised by such a lack of action after the excessively violent display from moments before he nearly tripped in the process of stopping and was actually surprised to find he hadn't landed on his face. Having reached the spot a few steps ahead he had at least two seconds to examine the scene before the other two followed him in and broke his concentration.

For the life of him he couldn't remember ever having seen a look of such absolute shock on Hiei's face. The spell of still silence he'd intruded on lasted for only the first second and Yusuke had the distinct impression that he had stepped into the middle of something so far beyond his grasp that he was surprised he could see there had ever been anything to see at all.

Then Hiei's fuzzy look hardened and the girl he'd been locking eyes with lowered her head, barely suppressing a whimper of pain as she hugged her arm closer to the center of her body. He didn't have a chance to do much of anything but blink before Kuwabara came thundering into the hall and almost immediately crashed into his back, very nearly sending them both flying to the ground. Half a step behind Kurama managed to avoid the collision, if only barely, and slipped passed them to look at the still silent pair. His concerned gaze flickered between the two before he judged the girl to be in greater need of his attention and made his way toward her only to stop short steps from them. About to question him Yusuke also stopped when a raised hand revealed a slightly blue or maybe purple tinged cloud spreading away from his fingers. Surprised and Curious Yusuke and Kuwabara moved forward to join Kurama examining what turned out to be a clear slightly curved wall spanning the width of the hall blocking their path to the other two. The cloudy places only appeared where one of them touched and spread far more quickly from where they pushed than it faded into nothing again.

"Thank goodness you're all here! I was sure I'd have to search the whole city to find you!"

"Botan…?" Kuwabara was the one to look toward her, the other two Still far too preoccupied with examining the barrier separating them from Hiei and the yet to be identified girl sitting across from him.

"Well that's not much of a welcome. You'll be a lot happier to see n me when you see what I've brought!" Reaching quickly into her pocket Botan triumphantly produced the two sheets of paper she'd stowed there before entering the building. "The demon we captured at the warehouse had this hidden on him. It's the wanted poster he was given to be able to find Hiroko! We have a picture of her n..." She trailed off suddenly as Kuwabara, who was examining the picture pointed back over his shoulder. Her curious look as she peeked around him faded quickly to surprise and then frustration, "But how could you have possibly found her without knowing what she looks like?" She demanded, wondering why she'd been so determinedly searching for them if they didn't need the photo to begin with.

X

Ignoring the murmur of voices on the other side of the barrier they caught themselves staring at each other again in an extended silence. "You should have left when they grabbed me." She muttered finally, breaking the quiet as gently as possible "Now they'll know it's you so you better go before more come looking..."

"What have you done?" He demanded, cutting across her voice and silencing her.

She stiffened for a fraction of a second in response before a trace of a grin returned to her mouth and her eyes softened in that odd way he'd never quite understood the reason behind.

X

"Am I the only one getting the idea that those two know each other?" Kuwabara muttered, staring intently through the still cloudy wall at the pair inside the barrier.

"They do seem awfully chummy… particularly for Hiei…" Botan answered, looking from the picture she still held to the girl it was of, "Do any of you know what's going on here?"

"No…" Kurama was cut off as Yusuke began pounding his fist against the energy wall, causing it to quiver but not resulting in the sound he was hoping for.

"Hey! If you two are done staring at each other, think you might let the rest of us in on whatever the hell is going on here?"


	7. Just Caught

_**The Scene Change X System:**_

_**6 X's: **__mark the beginning and end of a flashback_

_**3 X's: **__a time or setting (or usually both) change_

_**1 X: **__a change of perspective or location, what's going on in the next room or the scene from the other person's point of view._

_**Hope that makes following the changes a little easier...**_

* * *

Hearing a raised voice Hiei glanced away for only a second and turning back he was marginally surprised to find her only a matter of inches from him. She was fast; he'd forgotten somehow that in short bursts her speed had been close to his own, that she could be stationary and become lightning with little to no warning. He didn't flinch; there was nothing he found remotely threatening about her. Others being in this proximity may have deserved some wary tension; Kotori received only a halfhearted glare.

"You have to have the worst timing of any person I have ever known." Her voice was as quiet as it had ever been; a whisper of sound that was clearly audible, but somehow seemed to have been made for only him to hear, as if the tones would have gone unnoticed by any other hearing creature nearby regardless of the volume she may have spoken at. She gave a flash of a smile that was quickly dropped as her eyes did that odd softening thing again before she continued quietly, "The one time I don't want to see you here you are..." shaking her head she pulled the dark hood back up from her shoulders, hiding her hair, but not her eyes that remained glued to his as she added over the rustle of heavy fabric. "Do the smart thing Hiei, don't follow me." He felt the weight but not the texture of the hood's fabric falling forward against his forehead as she surged ahead that last fraction of space, brushing her lips faintly against the corner of his for the briefest of instants before she was a small dark shape rushing down the hallway. "For luck, I'm going to need more than I thought." The words echoed across her quiet footfalls. It was only when he began to stand, intending to follow her that he noticed the pipe running along the base of the wall and felt the sudden press of cold metal on his wrist. She was tricky too.

She would have known the handcuffs weren't strong enough to hold him, but in the few seconds they delayed him the measly restraints served their intended purpose. Less aggressive at heart than many demons, himself in particular, Kotori had found a way to buy the extra few seconds needed to make her escape without resorting to more violent means. It was her usual course of action. And while it varied extremely from his own approach to any such situations Hiei would begrudgingly admit, to himself, that in her hands it was normally a surprisingly effective strategy.

The cuff shattered as he stood fully, the twisted chunks of metal clanging on the ground in the surprisingly quiet hallway. Now freed of the stall tactic he once again moved to follow and after only a few steps found himself facing a clear barricade he knew well, but had rarely been on the restraining side of. The second phase of her plan became apparent right away with a flicker of motion in the corner of his vision as the others moved forward to join him. Her intention in placing the second barrier had been delaying him until the others released from the first barrier had managed to catch up, counting on them to further hinder any efforts at pursuit.

It was a plan he wasn't about to play along with. Without a word Hiei turned and Started back down the hall, snagging the papers Botan was holding on his way past. He ignored whatever she called after him as he raced out of the hall and through the main room, back up the stairs and out into the street before glancing down at the pages he'd stolen.

There was one way in which Spirit World never had, and never would fail him... sheer stupidity. His already less than sturdy faith in their ability to do anything shaken once again until it had dropped several pegs, Hiei barely suppressed the urge to curse as he confirmed what he'd already accepted in his mind. Their Hiroko and his Kotori were the same demon. For years now they had been employing a criminal as an investigator in their own intelligence department and no one seemed to have realized it. Even now that she was being hunted down they hadn't bothered to ask what she might have done to deserve such attention. Checking the fairly accurate sketch of her face on the sheet of paper was really only a technicality and he spared it only a moment's consideration before continuing around the corner into the alley the backdoor emptied into and rushing past the spot in search of the person who'd used the exit only moments earlier.

X

"Hiei...! Give those back! You have no idea what I had to do to get them!" Botan snapped and then jumped as the other three rushed past her to follow the streak of color Hiei had become.

Bursting out of the dingy hallway only a few steps behind Yusuke vaulted over the singed, but still standing bar the other two took the time to go around, but was still several seconds behind by the time he'd gotten across the room and up the stairs toward the street level. Reaching the top he scowled in each direction before picking one and taking off at a run again, "Okay, there's definitely something we're not in on… unless one of you two knows something I don't…" He glanced pointedly at Kurama, knowing that it was pretty much unthinkable that Hiei might share any kind of personal information with Kuwabara, pretty unlikely he'd tell anyone, but Kurama was usually up to date on everybody's business so he'd be the one to ask. Unfortunately his friend looked to be about as deep in the dark on this subject as he was. "Well looks like this is going to be interesting after all…"

X

She had been so busy watching behind her that she'd almost forgotten about what might have been waiting ahead of her. Jumping Kotori caught the uppermost rail of the fire escape she'd begun climbing when the sound of footsteps had started coming from ahead as well as behind, and flipped herself over the thin metal and onto the roof of the building the metal was secured to. Landing lightly she shrank down as low as she was able, waiting several moments before daring to rise far enough to peak over the edge at the alley below. She'd landed just in time, a moment later and one of the pair stopping there now would have seen her.

"She had to be coming this way..."

"Maybe they caught her back at the..." The Second demon's voice was cut off as the first smacked him hard enough to make him unsteady on his feet.

"You saw all those idiots running out of that place. They don't do that if some little girl is caught in the back of a room," The first snarled, "Someone else was trying to catch her and got in the way. If she escaped she had to come this way or one of the other pairs would have already caught her or seen her being drug out of the place. So shut up and keep your eyes open."

More bounty hunters… The city was crawling with them. Still pondering her next move Kotori's eyes went to the flicker of black moving through the shadows and she shrank down again as she recognized the shape making it. She'd known he'd follow when she ran away, that was why she had tried so hard to delay him as long as possible. She should have known it wouldn't be nearly so simple.

"Hey, look... in his hand." She heard the hiss as Hiei finally stilled enough for her to make out the paper clenched in his left fist.

"That means he's after her too... We better do something about this…" The loudmouth of the duo took half a step forward only to pause. Smiling just a bit to herself Kotori could imagine why, for some reason people had often found his glare intimidating. Hopefully these two were smart and would change their minds. If they left it would keep him from becoming further involved. She knew as the first shoved the second ahead a step that she'd been overly optimistic.

Kotori glanced away at the first flash of silver in the shadows below, well aware of what caused it, and what followed. In less than a second before her eyes went back to him Hiei was the only one standing and his sword was already back in its usual place at his side. Her indulgent smile faded only a little. She'd known the second he'd appeared in her latest hiding place that all Hiei would do was complicate things. She hadn't wanted him involved… and keeping him from digging himself in further was not going to be easy. Slipping away then, leaving him with no trail to follow would have been the smart thing to do, but still when he started down the alley she started following along the roof line.

X

Interesting may have been the wrong word. Bloody, problematic, and damned confusing might have been better terms to use. As a group they paused for only a second to look at and step over the bodies, fresh bodies that they had all seen Hiei hack apart. "I don't like it…" Yusuke didn't shout he didn't have to since the others were practically on top of him, "When was the last time you saw Hiei be that protective of anyone? When have you seen him be protective of anyone?"

"Well, there is…" Kurama stopped before actually saying the name to glance at the tall redhead running with them, and purposely didn't finish, keeping from stirring Kuwabara's curiosity, though Yukina's name passed silently between the other two.

"Yeah, that's understandable." Yusuke replied, "This is just… weird." Leaving the bodies where they'd fallen they continued on after the fleeing demons.

X

He stopped again at the end of the alley and she paused to stare down at him for a long second, wondering what had caused him to halt this time for a moment before tracing his eyes to the spot across the street where a small group appeared to have gathered. She wasn't able to hear them over the rush of the passing cars from the distance, but she was able to read the lips of those facing their general direction. And from what she was making out these were the rest of the last two's group. The price on her head must have been higher than she thought if they were getting organized this way in such large groups.

Her eyes went quickly back to the demon standing below her and Kotori nearly sighed as she watched him tense. He wasn't going to just let this go. Anyone, anything else and he would have walked away; she'd expected him to walk away. Why was it this time he had to make an exception?

It would be a blood bath, and one that would only serve to draw attention to him. A few bodies in the alley could be attributed to anything, to nearly anyone, but this entire group… someone would be watching, someone would see him and figure out who he was. It would be a blood bath, and a pointless one. She'd hoped his new friends would reach him in time to stop him, but they had paused part way down the alley and were only starting to move toward him again, they would _not_ reach him in time. She saw his hand tip in that way it always had before he went for his sword, saw his foot slip forward just a bit to brace for that first step and moved on her own.

X

He knew it was her in an instant. No one else had ever grabbed him that way, would ever dare to. A body pressed up tight against his back, an arm around his waist the other slung across his chest, holding on but not tightly, not grasping just resting there. He felt her breath fan against his shoulder as she rested her head against the nape of his neck, relaxing against him.

"Okay Hiei…" She breathed, "You win; you've got me."

* * *

_Also, if there are any wrong words feel free to tell me so I can fix them, I wrote most of this on my tablet and the handwriting recognition isn't always 100%_


	8. An Old Connection

XXXXXX

With his eyes locked on hers he stepped forward, forgetting the barrier that crumbled in front of him like think paper in a rainstorm, melting out of his path as he stepped toward her and without a word or a thought about the action he held his hand out to her. Hers hardly hesitated before she accepted, and a strange tingle shot up his arm from where her fingers brushed against his. Both silent he pulled her to her feet and past the others out of the room. They didn't try to stop them from leaving the hut they'd cornered the girl in.

"You shouldn't be here." Her voice didn't tremble as her might have expected it to, and the girl trailing behind him seemed equally steady, but a trace of panic caused him to pause and turn back to her, into those wide eyes he had remembered so vividly. The fear in them stopped him short. It hadn't touched any other feature of her face but lingered in her eyes, visible only because it seemed so unnatural there. After all, the sky wasn't meant to be afraid.

"Why?" Normally he would have ignored her, would have thought she was just trying to save her own life, but he was already doing that, not that he would ever admit why. This had to be something else.

Her mouth opened as if to start speaking but no sound came out. Her hand shifted in his, her grip tightening a bit as she altered their course and began pulling him toward the edges of the cliff; "There..." she said quietly pointing at the ground below.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" He demanded finally after attempting to scan the dark floor of the plain below them for several seconds and seeing nothing but shadows and rocks,

"You can't see them from here..." It wasn't a question, he realized a moment later when she grasped one of the torches that had been left burning stabbed into the ground near where they stood. The flames flickered violently as the piece of wood it was attached to flipped end over end in a high arc through the dark sky before dipping into the equal darkness of the shadows below. It landed with a clatter he beard even this far overhead and bounced across the rocky terrain several times before finally stopping.

It took him a moment to recognize the twisted gnarled object revealed by the weak light as a body, or at least part of one. He couldn't see enough of the waxy skin and misshapen limb to tell if it was attached to anything or a scattered portion.

"Why should we care about a body?" He demanded, turning in an effort to pull her away again, but she barely budged before yanking hard enough on his arm to pull him back to her.

"There isn't just one. There are hundreds." The quiver of fear was still missing from her voice as she continued to stare down at the field below, "Those things that look like rocks… they aren't. The ones who did that haven't been gone long; they can't have gone far enough to have not seen you coming. They'll be on their way back to kill you all."

"They'll only be killing us then?" The low voice startled them both and had them turning back toward the approaching demon that it belonged to. "What about you?"

She paused for only a second in the face of the implied accusation that she might have been in league with the mysterious slaughterers that hung over them all. And while the rest of them eyed her critically, distrustfully, Hiei found himself moving closer to her, almost instinctively inching toward placing himself between them. "People have a tendency to overlook me… like your friend inside did, until I tried to warn him."

"It's true boss…" One of the demons in the ranks behind the much larger man confirmed at half volume "Didn't have any clue she was there until she started talking."

"You don't have time to argue the point. They're already on their way back." Her voice was louder now, but still lacking that sense of urgency until she turned to look at him, and Hiei was startled by how when her voice quieted to address him alone that quaver of fear he'd been looking for in it finally surfaced, "You have to go…"

Maybe she did remember him somehow, in the same miraculous way he had recognized her. Maybe it was just because they were about the same age, or because he had tried to help her.

"What do you mean they're coming back…?" Another of the smaller demons snapped, moving forward to the edge of the cliff in an effort to search the surrounding area, "I don't see nothin'..."

"There…" She pointed into the horizon, where when he strained to follow her gaze he could see a glimmer of light, her eyesight must have been phenomenal, "I can't see their faces, but it's the right number, and they're wearing the same uniforms."

"Uniforms…" The leader took a step forward and Hiei tensed, ready to push her fully behind him at the first sign of violence. This girl had saved his life once, had fallen free of the sky to keep him from hitting the ground with enough force to kill him. It was only fair that he return the favor. Besides, they had no idea what she was, and what sort of damage might be done by killing something that had once been a part of the sky. "It must be one of Spirit World's demon eradicating teams… damn…" He righted himself, "The girl's right, if they catch us here we're all dead." Spinning with a speed that was surprising for his size the demon rushed past back toward the tied animals that they rode. "Bring her with Pipsqueak; girl just saved our hind ends… wouldn't be right to leave her here to die."

He obeyed the order in an instant without the usual questions, because he had no problems with this one, and drug the girl behind him to his own flying hybrid. She seemed surprised but didn't fight him when he pulled her up behind him and took off. He found it surprising how tightly she clung to him once they had taken to the air, considering the blue tinged grey wings folded up against her back. Given what she was she should have been comfortable in the sky, she didn't seem to be.

"Pipsqueak… is kind of a strange name to go by…" She said after a few long minutes of silence, her voice low enough that he barely heard it over the rushing of the wind.

"Hiei…" He corrected before he'd really meant to, but thankfully she didn't pretend to misunderstand.

"That's definitely better…" She informed him before falling silent again.

"Yours…?" He asked finally, when she hadn't volunteered the information several minutes later.

Even after the break in conversation she didn't pretend to have misunderstood him. "Whatever my next owner decides to call me I suppose… I lost my old name when the thieves took me so I don't have one currently."

Owner…? The word pricked him like a thick thorn and stiffened his spine again. "You're a slave?" It wasn't unheard of, several of the more powerful or richest demons had ranks of slaves at their beck and call.

"Not exactly… They referred to me as a pet."

A pet…? It wasn't much of a distinction considering the circumstances. She wasn't some animal picked up out of the wild. Depending on her so called owners it might not have been much difference at all, probably wasn't. She did possess some scrapes and bruises that were obviously too old to have been from an attack as recent as the one they were fleeing. Of course that would also explain why she stayed around to warn a bunch of bandits, she probably didn't know to be afraid of them, of how dangerous revealing herself to them might have been. If he hadn't been there, hadn't stepped in someone might have killed her. Might have destroyed the blue eyed girl that had been made from clouds to save him… and he would have never known. If she'd been made to ensure he lived, didn't that make her his responsibility? Wouldn't he be judged for whatever befell her?

"Kotori." He announced suddenly, the name drifting into his thoughts from nowhere.

"What?" This time she sounded honestly confused.

"When they ask, from now on your name is Kotori. Don't tell them anything about being a pet or about any thieves." Being a pet meant there was at least one person willing to buy her, someone who had deemed her to be worth some monetary value, and that meant she was worth selling. Owing her as he did Hiei couldn't allow that now, "You were just wandering past and managed to escape and hide in the confusion."

"Why…?"

"Just do it." He ordered.

"Alright…I'm Kotori. I happened by and escaped in the confusion." She answered her voice again a whisper barely audible over the rush of wind and hum of rapidly beating insect like wings. "Thank you Hiei..."

XXX

She didn't resist as he turned, still in her arms and grasped her shoulder, forcing her back against the wall they had stopped beside. "What the hell are you doing here?" Hiei demanded sharply, leaning closer in a habitual attempt to intimidate her. He was the one who recoiled.

This was not Kotori, it couldn't be. Not this nervous girl with the seeking unsteady eyes, trying and nearly succeeding in looking human. Even in their world, a land full of unusual creatures, strange powers, and bazar belief systems there had been something other worldly about Kotori, a strange quality that had kept her detached from the world surrounding them, separate and steady, as if all the chaos and uncertainty was beneath her, that no matter how close she actually was whatever was happening was far away and would leave her untouched. A breath away from making the accusation, of labeling her an imposter he was frozen when she turned back to him, those unmistakable eyes went still when they found his, lost for a second behind a slow blink before continuing to gaze into his with that gentle but unwavering stare. It was instantaneous; the noise from the city faded away and even the alley they stood in was a long forgotten memory. That familiar shiver rushed across him again and it was confirmed. She couldn't be anyone else, but the simple act of looking at her was so surreal that it had him questioning her existence and his sanity. She couldn't be here, not really. In a moment he would blink and she would be gone. But he did, and she remained.

Kotori, who he had never spoken of to anyone, never mentioned or shared, but had kept locked away in a well hidden corner of his mind remained as solid and apparent as the wall behind her.

She blinked a second time and Hiei found himself loosening his grip on her just a bit, lessening the bruising force of, but not entirely relinquishing his hold on her as she had given up hers on him. The world sped to catch back up to them as he spoke, softer than he had intended to. "Now Kotori…"

"Judging from the poster in your hand I think you already know." She answered finally, her gaze dropping away from his almost hesitantly toward the paper still clenched in his left hand. "I thought I'd be harder to find in a crowd," She added, a humorless half smile finding its way onto her face, "I guess I was wrong."

She was lying; at least partly. It wasn't that she was a bad liar. If anything she was probably very good at it. It was just that he'd learned long ago how her tone dipped the tiniest of intervals when she told a lie, as it had dropped just then. "Avoiding detection is a specialty of yours. Try again."

Kotori paused for only a fraction of a second, just long enough for him to notice a pause before she answered with, "I'm not lying. They've managed to find practically all of my usual hiding places… even burned one of them to the ground. It seemed best to do something out of character. I didn't think that they would look for me somewhere like this."

It didn't fit. Kotori was not the type to go looking for trouble; she'd always preferred to watch it from a distance if the option was open to her and she should have known that going into a den full of demons was courting danger. And that tone was still there, the one that signaled an untruth. She hadn't come here for the reasons she claimed; he could tell that even if he wasn't able to devise the real reason yet. There was too much he didn't know to start theorizing just then.

Hiei didn't release her as he turned away, only drug her along with him by the elbow and as he had expected she didn't fight to escape, only fell into step at his side and allowed him to steer her away.

"So, which are you going to hand me over to; the person who put out the bounty or Spirit World?" There was no bitter edge to her voice at the expectation of betrayal, although it needled him some Kotori sounded genuinely interested. She didn't pause when they reached the others milling around a few steps into the alley, and neither did he only pushed through them to continue. "I guess Spirit World or we'd probably be running the other way." She added quietly once they were through.

He didn't respond, not one for pointless reassurances, and because she might be able to recognize a lie from him as easily as he recognized one from her. At the moment he had no intentions of handing her over to anyone, at least not until he knew exactly what was going on.

She was quiet for several seconds as they kept walking. When she moved suddenly some steps later Kotori wasn't twisting her arm in an attempt to escape his hold. Instead she drug her forearm upward through his hand until hers had met it, then twisted her wrist until she could force her fingers between his, effectively linking and locking their hands together. "Well then," She announced brightly, without the slightest trace of apprehension or anxiety, "let's go see Koenma."


	9. Untold Portions

_This chapter is all flashback, so the scene change system will be a little different. For this one the X's still mean a time skip, but keep the flashback thing in mind…_

XXXXXX

"He's trying to cheat you." The female voice made him jump a little in surprise. He'd told her to stay quiet and out of the way. Interfering in the deal being made for their stolen goods had cost more than one demon their lives. He was beside her in an instant but didn't move between them. They had already noticed his odd behavior toward her, continuing it to the extent he had been would only make it worse.

Instead of the expected and potentially violent reaction the large demon turned to look at the girl beside him who barely reached his knee, "What do you mean?"

"Well..."She leaned forward to collect something from the pile of treasures," The stones in this are easily worth three times what he's offering for everything on their own. That isn't even including the gold." The necklace she held glimmered in the sun as she turned to hand it to the much larger demon standing beside her.

"Is that so...?" A giant hand dwarfed the girl's entire arm as the piece of jewelry was reclaimed. When she nodded up at him the bandit group's leader took a second to closely examine the large stones dripping from the gold rope hanging from his fingers. "Far as I can see she's right." He added after a moment, though as far as Hiei knew the demon probably hadn't been able to tell anything about the necklace or the stones other than what he had known previously, but would jump on any option to get a better price.

The other demon, a creature they had dealt with several times but Hiei had never bothered remembering the name of, stammered quite a bit without making any actual noises, dark eyes darting between the large demon, and the two of them standing beside him. "She's just… she's a child…" He finally announced in an outraged tone.

"Doesn't matter. She knows what she's talking about." The Boss turned away, glancing toward the others gathered behind him, "How about this, we'll have the girl check all this stuff and give you a fair price for it? Boys grab the stack…"

"You…" He saw the demon lunge forward at the same instant he saw Kotori flinch back from the coming attack, but not retreat from it, and moved quickly to knock her aside. He wasn't the only one who reacted though. Turning back to react he was beaten to the punch, almost literally, by an enormous hand that had closed around the other demon's throat.

"Now I think we'll be taking our business elsewhere…" The low voice rumbled and the fingers attached to that fist the size of his head contracted, easily snapping the captive neck and releasing to let the demon that neck had belonged to fall lifelessly to the ground. "Pipsqueak, little bit, let's get moving."

"Who's little bit?" She asked a second later, quietly and Hiei sighed.

"You are." If she had a nickname that meant she was staying. That wasn't altogether a bad thing, it made keeping an eye on her quite a bit simpler.

XXX

"Alright boys, let's get out of here." The voice boomed through the halls from some distance away. Putting his sword away Hiei turned back and after a short run had joined up with the rest of the group that should have been headed for the previously decided exit. That they weren't was the first sign of anything going wrong… or more appropriately the first sign that he saw. The second was the blood.

Two of the smaller demons were carrying a third as they started forward, leaving a heavy trail of blood behind them. He found himself at the end of the line, watching over his shoulder for pursuers. So far there were none, likely because he had already killed most of them. Even slowed down by dragging the injured man along they were outside in a matter of minutes and headed for where their rides and Kotori would be waiting.

She never went inside with them, her distaste for blood making her an odd member of a group that made a living killing and pillaging, and an even odder companion for him, but they brought her anyway. While she would never actually accompany them on the bloodier portions of these raids Hiei was equally uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her entirely behind. Even after a year of their company her instincts for self-preservation were still poorly developed. It would have been dangerous to leave her behind considering.

She was good at assigning values to the things they stole though, and that made her a good negotiator when it came to selling or trading those things. That usefulness was the reason the bandits sighted for keeping her around, but he knew it wasn't the only reason. As a group they had found her quiet, but cheerful personality less grating than his stern thinly veiled bloodlust, her quick smile had won them over easily. Even if she hadn't been useful they would have kept her for that reason. He kept her for entirely another. It had become more than the simple thought of his responsibility for looking out for her, he'd just gotten used to having her there; quiet and unquestioning at his side, a constant almost calming presence as if that was where she'd always belonged. That was why he knew even before they reached the clearing she waited in that she would be upset to see the other demon that had been injured.

He'd been right of course. The instant they reached the clearing she was moving, running toward them with sky blue eyes nearly in perfect circles, and he wasn't the only one who moved to intercept her. Probably because he wasn't the only one who had been around enough dying demons to know there was nothing any of them could do for the injured man.

"Best you don't see him, little bit." The larger demon standing beside him said quietly, his gentle tone one Hiei wasn't used to hearing from their leader, but not an unexpected one. Given Kotori's history with bodies they had all been careful, and Hiei knew he was guilty of this to a lesser extent, to keep her away from them, unsure of what her reaction might have been.

"But I can help…" She insisted, trying to push past them.

"There's nothing you can do." He caught her arm when she tried to dart between them. "Just leave him…"

That look on her face stopped him for a second. Pleading eyes were beginning to swim with tears and he sighed, startled by the change from the detachment she'd normally been able to show. "I can." She insisted and he let her go, allowing her to rush across the distance between where they'd stopped her and the groaning demon had been set down. He followed closely though, watching with the others for the first sign of a bad reaction.

She hit her knees beside him, hands outstretched and a strange blue glow emanating from her downward facing palms. Seemingly heedless of the blood and spilling entrails escaping from the deep gash Kotori pressed her hands to the demons body, and swallowed deeply. Her shoulders hunched, and kneeling beside her Hiei watched the light blue glow start climbing up her arms. She was breathing hard and shaking lightly when her energy shifted sharply, and the glow vanished, spreading into the body she was kneeling over.

It was hard to see through the blood and torn cloth, and the progress started slow. Then in almost the blink of an eye the open wound vanished, leaving only blood smeared skin and torn clothing in the previously gashed midsection. Finished Kotori withdrew her hands, a small smile lighting up her face. "He'll be okay now."

"Why didn't you tell us you could do that before?" Someone demanded on the far side of the body, and Hiei felt himself stiffening instinctively in response to the glare being directed at the girl.

"No one was ever hurt badly enough to need it." She answered quietly with a shrug.

XXX

He turned back to watch Kotori pick her way around the pair of bodies splayed across the dirt road they had been following on her way to join him. Finally reaching the spot where he stood she didn't say a word, only reached up to where one of the demons had gotten in a lucky hit just below his left eye. He saw only a trace of blue light and felt the warmth of her finger as she drew the tip delicately over the slice. Once her hand had dropped back to her side he took a second to wipe away the trace of blood that had escaped it before turning to continue down the road, neither speaking a word about the incident.

That she didn't say anything was refreshing. He knew by now that she was aware of why he wore the necklace in full view; she had been the one to tell him just how valuable it would have been to other demons. But she never said anything about him using it as a lure to get those foolish enough to fall for it to attack him, and never said anything about the bodies either, just stayed out of the way the best she was able and let him do as he wanted. Afterwards she would do the same thing she just had every time, heal any damage he might have sustained and move on like nothing had ever happened.

They walked the rest of the way back in silence, the comfortable type that didn't require words that came so often when they were away on their own. It left a calm, steady sensation in his stomach, a sort of peace that he was missing at other times; just a sense that this was the way the world was meant to be. She had been meant to save him, meant to come back to him. From there it had been his decision what would happen. Walking down this dirt road in the sun, a breeze rustling the trees, Hiei was sure he'd made the right one. This was a fate he didn't mind having. Guarding a piece of the sky wasn't so bad.

Approaching the cave he was only marginally surprised to find no one standing guard, but sensing no impending danger he went inside, careful still to go in before the girl trailing behind him.

"It's a death wish…" the low voice of the demon he'd only ever heard called boss rumbled through the main room of the cave system they'd made their home base. Drifting across from where he and the remaining group had gathered toward the back of the room. "We'll have to call this one a wash." A roll of paper pinged off the wall when it was thrown over someone shoulder. Instead of letting it land on the floor Hiei snagged it out of the air, listening as the group went on to discuss another plan. Beside him Kotori only glanced curiously at the scroll clenched in his hand and followed without a sound when he headed back outside.

"That's Murotome's keep…" She said quietly once he'd unrolled the page and revealed the floor plan traced onto the surface.

"How can you tell?"

Absently Kotori's finger traced lightly over the features as she named them, "I could see the river from where she kept me and the mountain ranges from the ramparts when we would go walking… The rest of it lines up right too…" Her finger slipped from room to room as she listed them, "This is where she slept, they kept the weapons here… I slept here…"

It belonged to one of her former owners then. For a second Hiei was quiet as he considered her, watching her finger begin pointing out the guard's posts as well as the function of the various rooms. "Kotori…" He waited until she looked at him, that scheming half smile already on his face, "Let's play a game…"

XXX

The bag jangled as he dropped it in front of him and looked around. She dropped out of a tree not far from where he stood. "I guess it worked then." She didn't smile, but he could make out a trace of relief in her face.

"Of course it worked." They'd been planning this for weeks, going over every possible detail, any and every thing that might upset the plan. There had been nothing left to go wrong. With Kotori's inside knowledge of the compound it hadn't taken very long to concoct the plan, and on his own Hiei had been able to get in and out fast with an almost disappointing amount of resistance.

"What do we do with this?" She asked, nudging the sack with her toe.

"Hide it, or hand it over." The sack was full of valuable objects, but nothing worth holding onto specifically. The gold in the bag hadn't been the point anyway.

"I guess we'll have to hide it… he'll kill us if he finds out we took off and did this on our own…" Solo projects were highly discouraged among the group, particularly without prior discussion and permission. If they were discovered being kicked out would be a minor punishment, if the usual standard was anything to go by death was the most likely outcome.

Nodding Hiei straightened his still too large brown cloak and swung the bag over his shoulder. It jangled loudly again as he started forward, Kotori walking much more quietly beside him as they melted into the trees.

XXXXXX


	10. A Walk In The Park

Standing at the end of the alley they turned at the same time to watch the pair go, startled temporarily into silence and inactivity.

"So… is this one of those things you guys just never bothered to tell me?" Kuwabara asked finally, the first to recover from the surprise enough to chance a glare at the other two.

"Yeah Kurama… fill him in…" Yusuke muttered, still busy staring after the other two and trying to keep his mouth shut at the same time.

"I can honestly say I know nothing about her." He wished he was insulted by the fact that they believed him capable of keeping this sort of secret, but then he didn't always share everything with them, what was more concerning was the fact that Hiei had been able to hide such a thing so well from all of them. He'd called her Kotori, a name Kurama had never heard come up in association with the other demon at all. That was somewhat remarkable considering Hiei's lack of discretion when it came to the identities of his cohorts, he'd never been overly discreet about who he might have been working with, even on a temporary basis. And the sort of familiarity the girl had been showing did not scream passing acquaintance. But there was something more troubling than that. Hiei being secretive wasn't entirely uncommon, nor was it for Koenma to be, however no one had ever referred to the missing investigator by any name other than Hiroko… until Hiei had.

If Koenma had truly wanted them to find her, and feared for the girl's safety, he would have shared everything. And if he did not know her second identity there could potentially be several less than innocent reasons. After all, innocent people didn't have a price on their head. There could be more at play than they were aware of, and that had ever possibility of becoming a serious problem.

"Alright Botan, have you guys been holding out on us? Did you know Hiei and this girl were… whatever they're doing?"

The new arrival had stopped short of where they were standing and turned as they had to stare at the retreating duo. Seemingly startled by the voice she turned back, "What?"

"You saw them," Yusuke took a few steps forward, bringing himself up even with her, "with the goo-goo eyes and the handholding. You had to know something's up."

"Yeah Botan, she works for you guys you had to know what she's been up to… so why didn't you tell the rest of us?" Kuwabara joined in, bending over to be face to face with the woman.

Surprise fading to simple offense Botan straightened up a bit, "Excuse me? How should I know any of what's going on? I've never even met Hiroko before, and it isn't as if I'm Hiei's close personal confidant!"

"The only way we're going to find anything out is if we catch up." Kurama slipped past them, diffusing the situation before it could escalate into something resembling an actual argument as he passed, and trying very hard not to melt into a fit of laughter at Yusuke's accusation of Hiei making "goo-goo" eyes at someone, a notion as ridiculous as the demon walking down a street hand in hand with someone. "Including where they happen to be going…" He added, once the topics of their discussion had disappeared around a corner. Even so, he was nearly to the end of the alley when he heard the others break into a run to follow.

X

"We shouldn't be here…" Her eyes swept the open space three times as they turned into it, taking in the long expanse of grass stretching away from the winding path with its lightly glowing lamp posts. A few trees dotted the landscape, but they were fairly small and widespread and would provide no cover. She hesitated at the gate, not wanting to walk completely into the open where being spotted was almost a guarantee.

"You shouldn't be here at all." He wasn't talking about the park as he yanked her forward through the brick faced gate. To his knowledge all this time Kotori had been on the other side of the barrier, that was where he'd always thought of her being, the same place the same way she'd always been. And he had thought of her, at least in passing now and then. You didn't have someone at your side as long as she had stuck by his without doing so, didn't lose a piece of the sky without wondering what might have befallen it. Somehow the thought of her turning up again, that she might not have been where he'd left her had never crossed his mind.

He felt her stop again a second before he saw the flicker of movement on the edge of his vision. Her eyes had always been barely a fraction of a second faster than his, another of those things that hadn't changed. Releasing her he stepped to one side, drawing his sword and turning just so. The first demon that reached them was impaled on the blade before he'd realized it was there. Pulling the weapon free Hiei glanced quickly to where she stood. Meeting his eyes Kotori nodded once and with a burst of speed moved out of the way as the next group of attackers approached.

X

The faintest trace of a shout Sounded over the steady thuds of their feet and again the seemingly endless cycle of running to catch up continued .Coming around the corner of the tall wall surrounding the park Botan was the only one to stop. The other three, used to scenes like the one they found in the park quickly waded into the mob, leaving the blue haired woman alone a few steps past the gate and wondering what had happened for things to have escalated this quickly. They had been only seconds behind, how a group so large could have formed so quickly was beyond her. There were so many milling bodies in the clump that she lost track of the boys almost right away.

The high arc of a flying knife, cast off from one demon or another, caught and pulled her eyes away from the task of finding her friends a moment too late. The heavy, sharply glinting blade was only a few feet from her head when she looked up, far too close for her to throw herself out of the way before the plummeting weapon would hit her.

A thin blue film passed in front of her eyes and Botan cringed, waiting for the pain of the knife slicing into her. When it didn't come she opened her eyes just a little, then wider as the violet tint of color faded from the air in front and above her. Blinking she looked down at the now far less dangerous looking knife where it rested benignly on the grass inches from her feet. "That was close…"

"I think it would be best if you stood close to me." It wasn't until she spoke that Botan realized the shorter woman was standing beside her.

"Hiroko… then you…?" She glanced back at the slowly fading color of the stricken barrier, "Thanks." Botan's smile wasn't returned, probably because the young woman who only reached about to her shoulder didn't see it. She'd tipped her head down away from the fight with her eyes squeezed closed. "Are… are you alright?" The almost pained look on the girl's face vanished so quickly Botan almost wondered if she'd been imagining the whole thing, but there was something almost haunting about her eyes when she glanced up that nearly stole her breath at the intensity of the brief glance and the things in it that she didn't have a chance to name before they swept away.

"I was hoping to avoid this…" She whispered, watching as bodies began falling into the grass, her sharp vision making it possible for her to trace each one, to see the arcs and drops of blood soaring into the air, to match the torn edges of flesh for those that suffered some type of dismemberment. Reflexively every muscle in her body tightened, her fingers curled into fists at her sides to keep her hands from trembling as she habitually and unwillingly began picking out the different shades of red the different demons' blood shimmered in the yellow light.

"Hi…Hiroko…?" Watching the demon tremble for a second in her too large sweatshirt Botan reached out toward her habitually to offer comfort, but stopped short of making contact. She saw the girl's shoulders lift slightly as she inhaled, but the motion itself wasn't what stopped her. It wasn't that she could see the investigator's breathing, or hear it; it was more as if she felt the breath, as if she had taken it herself. All the tension that had gathered in her stomach since seeing those oddly intense eyes built for an instant, then like the whooshing of air she imagined the exhale to be the pressure left and the small shape beside her stilled entirely. Her hand dropped back to her side as she turned away to check on the fight she'd temporarily lost track of.

A sea of lifeless demons greeted her, and she quickly double checked that the faces of the standing figures were familiar ones. The only stranger among the five backed away from the other's quickly, particularly a shorter dark figure that had moved toward him with murderous eyes. In his hurry the demon slipped and landed hard on the ground, struggling to lift himself and continue scurrying backward before a glinting sword point could reach him.

The faintest gust of air tore Botan's eyes away and to the vacant spot next to her. Turning in search of the missing demon her eyes landed on several folded pieces of paper scattered on the ground between the motionless lumps. Curious she inched forward to begin collecting them.

X

A whisper of a touch was all it took. He didn't have to look at the hand to know whose it was, he knew the warmth of the touch, the delicate barely there pressure of it. And he also knew the meaning behind it, without her having to say, knew the request for mercy that would come. She would plead with him to spare this one, the last one at least. He would reprimand her for leniency, demand to know why sparing one mattered when the others had been wiped out; call her soft. She would remind him that by his standards she always had been, say something about that life meaning something to its owner. And while he considered his options and silently mocked her answers she would ask again.

He lowered the blade slowly, the entire encounter so familiar that it passed without needing to be vocalized. He watched the demon scurry backwards what he deemed to be a safe distance before he climbed to his feet and bolted. Hiei waited until he was sure the demon was gone before he looked at her, not bothering with the usual admonishments, she'd heard them all, knew what a mistake letting that demon go might turn out to be, there would be no point in repeating it.

She stepped closer without any haste or hesitance and gingerly caught him around the middle, holding on firmly but without squeezing and remained there against him for a long moment before withdrawing, brushing her lips briefly against the very corner of his as she withdrew. A show of affection he knew to interpret as her silent way of thanking him for humoring her against his better judgment, something she knew he wouldn't have accepted verbal appreciation for. As ever the only way he acknowledged her show of gratitude was to allow it. He didn't answer with any action of his own, didn't say a word, but he also didn't pull away, and that was more than he would do for nearly anyone else.

He considered the others fortunate that he saw fit to ignore their uncalled for snickering.


	11. Revelation

_I wrote this one in kind of a hurry, so if it gets confusing or doesn't make a lot of sense in some places please someone let me know so I can rework it, thanks_

* * *

Fuming silently Botan crossed her arms and slumped back in her seat, directing a glare at the back of a head of spiky black hair across the aisle and a few seats down from where she sat. The demon the hair belonged to remained ignorant of her dirty look and Botan redirected her eyes to the window, watching the dark landscape rush by and wondering when exactly it had been decided that Hiei could overrule her.

Containing the urge to mutter under her breath, barely, she turned her glare in turn to the other three members of the team who had turned against her to agree with the fourth. Whatever punishment she got from Koenma was their fault; she only hoped _he_ realized there was no way she could make them take the girl back, particularly Hiei apparently who had become almost violent at the suggestion. What did it change that he knew her somehow? Surely he must have known it was her from the start, even if the others didn't realize the connection. Besides it wasn't as if they were going to hurt Hiroko, Koenma's intentions had only been to find out what had happened to her, and then find a way to protect or contain his missing employee as the situation dictated. So this ridiculous "compromise" as Kurama had called it made absolutely no sense. Not that it was much of a compromise in her opinion.

Hiei had insisted on taking the girl out of town himself, Botan had demanded that they finish the job and return her to Spirit World, Yusuke had insisted on taking the train. It was then that she knew she was completely outnumbered, because the moment someone brought up potentially visiting the compound Kuwabara sided with them purely for the sake of seeing Yukina. And that was the compromise Kurama had suggested when she and Hiei had deteriorated into a shouting match about what they would do with the recovered investigator.

Botan knew why they'd sided against her; Curiosity. They wanted to observe the pair together, to see what was going on with Hiroko and Hiei. She had felt the same way at first, but now it hardly seemed important. The pair weren't even sitting together so how could they hope to learn anything? Annoyed all over again she turned her glare toward the only two members of the group that were facing her. Kurama returned her gaze with a curious look of his own that she knew was forced; he knew why she'd be mad after all. Kuwabara at least had the decency to look a little ashamed and avert his gaze. Giving up on making the first redhead feel remotely guilty she shifted in her seat in search of something else to do. The crinkle of paper in her pocket startled her and she reached in to figure out what might have been in there.

She'd forgotten about the papers she'd claimed from the park until she was looking at them again. For a second she considered telling the others about them, and calling them over to see what might have been on them. She decided against it quickly. If none of them had noticed the scattered pages and bothered to pick up their own that wasn't her fault. Besides there couldn't be anything that important on the pages, and they'd already found Hiroko she should be able to fill them in once they got somewhere they could talk. Still there was a tinge of disappointment when she unfolded the creased paper and looked down at the same flyer detailing Hiroko that she'd had a copy of earlier. Frowning a little she set that one aside and began unfolding the others. Eventually she had a stack of wanted posters that she would have thought were copies of the same one if they didn't sport different names. It was the last one that caught her attention. There was something familiar about the man's face. He looked older than the others had; his stern face covered with bushy facial hair under his nose, around his chin, a tuft under his lower lip. His dark hair didn't cover the tops of his large pointed ears and a single horn rose directly out of it. There was no name on his poster, only the word "Boss". Botan only considered him for a few seconds longer because she was sure that was a face she'd seen before, even if she couldn't tell from where. She gave up on it a few seconds later, if it had been important she would have remembered, and collected the others to fold them all up together, realizing with a jump only halfway through that she was no longer sitting alone.

"How long have you been there?" She asked drawing in a breath as her pulse rate slowed back to normal.

"A while…" The female demon seated across from her turned away from the window to look at her, blue eyes blinking slowly, "I've been banished from the conversation…" Hiroko added, indicating the seat where the other three had converged on Hiei before turning back to the landscape whisking past them.

Botan didn't offer a response; too busy trying to hide a smirk. Maybe he was going to get what he deserved after all. But then again, considering the look she could see reflected on his face in the window beside him maybe not…

XXX

This was going to be problematic. Casting a veiled glance around as they reached the top of the very long staircase Kotori swallowed the urge to sigh. She'd never imagined when she left that Koenma might call out this team just for the sake of finding her… or that he might do it so quickly. She'd only just started to finalize her plans and already he'd found a way to mess them up.

"Looks like the old bat was expecting us…" The voice pulled her away from her thoughts, and she followed all of their eyes to the building ahead, and the lone window in it that was glowing yellow against the darkness that otherwise covered the remote mountain top. Not sure where exactly they were or what else might have been there, she honestly expected some sort of bat to come walking through the door they were approaching. When it opened and they were faced with a human woman it was almost disappointing. She got over it quickly.

"It's about time. Does somebody want to tell me what's going on now?" Throwing down the still smoldering end of a cigarette she crushed it beneath her toe and surveyed the group gathering on her front porch. "I'm guessing you're the one all the fuss is about."

Not used to being picked so easily out of a crowd Kotori was surprised to find herself pinned down by the woman's eyes, and hesitated for a moment looking for a suitable response.

"If you'll excuse us Master Genkai, I can handle things from here." A familiar voice cut across the silence before she could answer and instantly Kotori felt her spine straighten just a little when the unexpected shape, darker and larger than the small woman who had originally appeared stepped into view.

"Ayame…" She muttered, startled. Normally she could sense when the woman was around, she'd been so preoccupied with her previous thoughts she hadn't even suspected she might be here.

"Hello Hiroko…" The violet eyes that turned on her were harsher than Kotori recalled them being, "Or should I call you Kotori? Or Eri… or one of these others…?" Her breath caught when the stack of files came into view.

She should have known it would be too much to hope that they'd be destroyed by the fire with the warehouse, or remain lost in the rubble once it had been ruined. Leaving them behind hadn't been what she'd wanted to do initially, but she'd been cornered elsewhere and hadn't had the time to go back for them. By the time she might have been able to the warehouse had already burned down and returning could have been not only pointless, but perilous.

In an instant all eyes were on her, with the single exception of a pair of crimson orbs that were directed at the files like her own were, and with that same exception the group tensed as if she was suddenly some sort of threat that she hadn't been five minutes earlier. "Whichever you prefer I suppose." She answered, steadying herself quickly.

Ayame's narrowed eyes widened just a bit and she pulled in a breath. "I see…" She adjusted her grip on the stack of folders, aligning them almost habitually before dropping her arm to hold them at her side. "Come with me."

Not waiting for further instructions or an invitation from the woman the house obviously belonged to Kotori stepped around the others and followed the taller woman inside. She barely spared the room they entered a glance, following the silent grim reaper across it and down the hall that followed into a smaller room.

"You could have at least denied it." The stack of folders hit the low table with enough of an impact to rattle a still steaming tea cup that rested a short distance away, sending a few drops of the liquid into the air.

Kotori paused for a second, her eyes on the folders that tipped sideways and spread across the table top, "There's no point. You have all the evidence you need already even if I didn't admit it." She ignored the others entering the room behind her, instead keeping her eyes trained on the stolen paperwork.

"Why didn't you tell me at least?" Ayame asked quietly, "I could have done something to help you… helped persuade Koenma into making some special arrangement…"

She wanted to tell her something comforting, to apologize in some way for the omission. She didn't. Instead Kotori remained silent. There was no point in explaining to Ayame the hopeful and meaningless optimism in that statement. Spirit World had a warrant on her head, which was why she'd stolen the files, why she'd given them a fake name. If they had known who she was they'd have killed her long ago, for the simple crime of being in the wrong place and surviving. But Ayame was one of them, and not subject to the same rules. She wouldn't ever understand. She'd known they would probably find her out eventually, but she'd hoped it would be after…

"Even if you didn't want to tell me about the rest… when we gave you that last assignment you could have told us you knew him."

The words snapped her out of her reverie, brought her back from memories of the uniformed guards and thousands of dead demons, of worrying that her secret would be discovered and those uniforms would be coming after her again, of flinching inwardly whenever she was forced to pass a soldier wearing that uniform in Koenma's halls. Him?

"They think you killed him…"

"I would never…" The denial was harsh, pained and sudden. It spilled out vehemently before Kotori could stop herself.

"But you did know him…" She watched Ayame's hands go quickly to the files as she began flipping through the pages, "Where you plotting against us? That's what they think, that you wanted some kind of vengeance…"

"I've seen what you people can do, I wouldn't be that stupid…"

"And that if you didn't kill him yourself you were working with…"

"Ayame don't…" She saw the back of the picture emerging and knew what it had to be of, moving forward in an attempt to block her she was still several instances too late.

"Him…" Ayame finished, the glossy photo sailing down onto the polished surface. The demon in the picture stared blankly upward, lifeless eyes still open beneath his bushy black eyebrows, mouth slightly open framed by shaggy facial hair, a single horn extended from the only short hair he possessed on his head.

"That's where I knew him from." Botan announced brightly, digging several papers out of her pocket and sorting through the bunch, "The report on that last demon Hiroko was supposed to be following… I thought this poster looked familiar…" She added brandishing the last, of an older short haired demon before tossing it down with the others.

Already stunned she watched in horror as the other familiar faces, including her own, etched out in black ink on yellowish pages fell onto the table; spilling over the files she'd stolen from the records department all those years ago when she'd first been hoping to avoid the death sentence that surviving one of their killing traps had put on her head, and silently Kotori hoped they hadn't just brought another down on all of them.

A burst of light and heat from the side of the room had not only her spinning in that direction. The light crackle of beginning flames, the faintest hint of smoke and the crash of a door opening in the distance were all that greeted them.

The breath Kotori was holding flowed out as a low string of words.

"You have no idea what you just did…"


	12. Flashes Of A Life

_Flashback chapter..._

"No no no…" The large demon shook his head with a sigh, "like this junior. Curl your fingers up tight, so they're flat up front like this…" Holding out his fist the demon tapped against the flats of his fingers, "alright, show me yours…"

Big red eyes glared up at him, and then a tiny hand lifted, fingertips curled into his palm. The stern look on the man's face faded into the barest sign of a grin and he nodded.

"Better, now remember, keep your thumb tucked down unless you want to break it…" he demonstrated the proper position with his own fist, "Now, give it your best shot." Holding up his oversized palm he smirked a little when the tiny fist collided with the center. "Well, you're aims getting better, but you've still got a long way to go Hiei. Try it again…" Another hit tapped his hand, "What are you swatting a bug? Harder." He ordered, watching the child tense in preparation of the next hit.

XXX

Glancing around the boy frowned at their surroundings before finding the giant he'd been walking with again. "Where are we?" He demanded.

"Doesn't matter..." The demon answered, dropping the bag he'd been carrying. "Okay brat, listen close 'cause we aren't going back till you've mastered this stuff."

"What stuff?" Hiei grumbled and climbed up to sit on one of the fallen logs stretched across the clearing they'd stopped in.

"Survival skills pipsqueak," He announced with a smirk, "time you learned how to live in the wilderness…"

"We already live in the wilderness." Hiei muttered, leaning forward on his knees to roll his eyes at the older man's enthusiasm. All he earned was a glare.

"That doesn't mean you could do it yourself." A little curious Hiei turned back to watch the man's enormous hands disappear into the sack he'd been carrying since they left camp, wondering what was clanging around inside it as he dug, "I brought enough food for tonight, but come tomorrow you're gonna have to start hunting for it yourself… so let's start with the fire…" The sudden whoosh of hot air and flash of light made him flinch, and dark eyes turned toward the boy with red eyes standing next to the suddenly blazing fallen tree. "Alright, you little smart ass, what are you gonna do if you're stranded somewhere without the energy to do that huh?"

"I doubt it'll be a problem." He grumbled back, smirking at the flames dancing along the fallen tree's length. The knuckle that collided with the back of his head didn't hit the boy with nearly the force it could have, but was still enough to make Hiei take a step forward to keep from tipping over. Frowning back at the much taller demon he absently rubbed the bump forming on the back of his head.

"You're still gonna learn to do it the right way Junior and I'll be watching to see if you cheat…"

"Sure… boss." The name dripped with sarcasm, but he'd never heard the demon called by anything else.

XXX

"Well, at least you're good at something…" Pausing he looked up from the almost clear water swirling around his knees to watch the boy drop something big and furry on the river bank. It was almost relieving in a way; he'd been starting to think this whole trip had been a waste of time. Days in the obstinate child could only barely start a campfire without using his energy to conjure the flames, he absolutely refused to construct any type of shelter, preferring to hide under trees when it had rained the night before, and fishing lessons had been an unrivaled disaster. He should have expected that though, the boy was too impatient to wait for the fish to come to him and had spent more than an hour chasing them around the stream, leading to a lot of splashing and no dinner.

It looked like hunting had gone a lot better, something that played more to the boy's strengths. He should have suggested it sooner. Wading out of the river the bandit leader paused next to the much smaller boy he had taken charge of some years earlier and surveyed the large animal positioned next to his own squirming stack of wriggling silver scaled fish. "Well, kid, looks like we're eating like kings tonight." He announced with the starting whoop of laughter and stooping to rub his hand roughly over the top of the young demon's head, squashing down his spiky hair. All he received in answer was a scoff from his side. "And tomorrow we'll head back to base…" He added with a shake of his head. Maybe someday the ungrateful brat would appreciate all the trouble he'd gone to for him, he doubted it, but a demon could hope after all.

XXX

It wouldn't be all that hard to find them, when he found one the other was sure to be nearby. It had been that way for a while now, since they'd found the girl and brought her back neither of the kids had been willing to let the other out of their sight for very long. At first he'd though it would be problematic, but the girl had turned out to be useful if underprepared for a life among cutthroats, and keeping her out of trouble also seemed to keep Hiei from causing too much trouble of his own. So he was hardly surprised to find them together in a clearing nearby. Hiei playing with his latest toy, a sword he'd acquired from somewhere and been determined to learn to use, and Kotori watching silently from the sidelines.

"Good job kid, keep it up." He spared the boy and his sword a few seconds of observation then nodded approvingly before turning and making his way to the girl leaning against a tree a short distance away, "Alright little bit, we've got to have a talk." He dropped to a knee and leaned down to be closer to her eye level.

"Sir…?"

"Nice kid… you listening pipsqueak you could learn a thing or two from this one, calls me sir and everything." He smiled over his corner, watching the way the boy tensed still when someone was close to the little winged girl he'd brought home. Shaking his head at that he turned back to the girl looking questioningly up at him, "Guess what I found sitting inside?" Kotori only blinked up at him and the demon sighed, revealing a long blade hidden in a plain brown scabbard. "How many times I gotta tell you to keep this with you?" He asked, shaking it slightly in front of her. The girl only looked at him and then the knife and frowned up at him. "Well, take it."

"I won't…" She said quietly, her eyes dropping away from his.

"Listen little bit…" He could hold her whole arm in one hand and did so as he forced the knife into her grasp, "You've gotta be able to look after yourself if you need to… something comes up running away isn't always going to be an option, and someone's not always going to be there to help you out…"

"I won't kill someone…" She muttered.

"Then just maim them, but keep the damn knife with you." Sighing he leaned a little closer, "And don't let the other guys hear you talking about that not killing people stuff, it'll make you easy pickings for em…" Climbing slowly to his feet he turned away with a sigh and shook his head, "How the hell do I keep getting tied down to stubborn brat kids…?" He grumbled walking away.

XXX

They were up to something. After a couple years he'd developed a seventh sense about that sort of thing, it wasn't always right but he could usually tell when the kids were planning something. Sometimes he'd let them get away with it just because it wasn't worth the effort of stopping them for something so simple, sometimes he didn't actually catch on until it was too late, and he was sure sometimes he probably missed their mischief entirely. But right now, they were up to something, and he didn't have anything better to do.

"Where you headed?" He didn't miss how Kotori flinched marginally at the sound of his voice, the way her wings tightened just a little against her back.

She'd recovered from the surprise by the time she turned, "There's a celebration happening in…"

"I remember." Interrupting her should have been enough to make her stumble shake up her story and force her into making a mistake. Apparently she was getting better because it didn't.

"Well, Hiei said if I could get the others to cover for us he'd go with me." She offered a small smile, "That's why I traded watch shifts with them for the last week… so we'd both be able to go for a couple days…"

That was part of why he'd been suspecting them. Kotori covering the other's shifts was useful, since her eyes were better than any of theirs were, but it was also unusual and worth paying attention to.

He watched her for a second, wondering if it would be worth just letting them get away with whatever they had planned now. A glance at Hiei's scowling face when he appeared in front of them made the decision for him. Sometimes it was just worth going out of his way to give the younger demon trouble, and keep him from doing something too stupid. "Sounds like fun, how about I come too? Hell, we'll bring everyone…" He saw their eyes meet briefly and smirked inwardly as whatever plans they'd had were ruined. They'd probably forget about it anyway, when they reached this ridiculous festival they'd been hearing about and the kids found something else to occupy themselves.

XXX

He'd thought it was funny at first, how they tried to mix into the crowd to evade him, how Hiei continued inching toward livid each time he managed to catch up. Kotori appeared to have given up on whatever they were initially planning, and actually seemed to be enjoying herself dragging the boy from place to place in the sea of demons. Hiei was another story though, and history had shown them how easily that kid could sway the other one. Keeping them in sight was probably best. And it kept him entertained, watching them dart around groups of people and corners whispering furiously in hopes of him losing track of them. At least, it was amusing; until it worked.

Coming around a corner a second to late he lost all trace of them, startling considering this was the emptiest of the streets they had gone through since entering the city. Had it been one of the capitals, one of the larger cities he might have been expecting it, but this was a small one, little more than a trading hub, there weren't a lot of places they could have vanished to. Frowning thoughtfully he tugged a bit at one side of his beard and continued down the side street. They must have been around here somewhere; they hadn't had the time to get far.

If those kids were so desperate to get rid of him it couldn't be to do anything good, but that didn't explain the dropping sensation in the pit of his stomach.

Twenty minutes later he was halted in the middle of taking another step, his search stopped by an explosion of energy somewhere away from town that was followed quickly by a column of flames erupting from a nearby stretch of forest. He was instantly glad he could move quickly when he had to as he whirled on a toe and raced for the tree line. Hiei was tough, particularly for a kid, he'd made sure of it, but if he was dumping that much energy into an attack it had to be a desperate one. It only took him minutes to catch up, minutes too long.

In the decade or so that she'd lived with them he'd seen that barrier Kotori could make take some damage. Until now he'd never seen it fail. Rushing into the still smoldering scorched space he found them in an instant. Or rather, he found her in an instant. It took a few extra seconds to notice the second body that she was shielding with her own. A small body that wasn't moving.

He crossed the space in another second, slamming at full speed with all of his weight into the demon standing over them and sending it flopping into a barely standing tree. Dragging his own sword out of its scabbard he turned to face the rest, trying to gauge the extent of the damage from the corner of his eye. He could have sworn the boy wasn't breathing, but it was hard to tell, in fact he wasn't sure how bad it really was until the telltale blue glow that crawled across her hands when Kotori used her healing abilities leaked out from around her.

"Do that somewhere else…" He ordered, not wanting them in the middle if they weren't going to be of use in the fight. For a moment he thought Kotori might argue with him, but unlike the brat he'd raised this one actually obeyed the commands he gave. Still she lingered a little longer than he would have liked. "Go on little bit, get our boy out of here."

XXX

"So Junior, what are you going to do now? Take her with you? Leave her here? Better make a choice fast 'cause I don't think she'll be out very long." He looked down at the unconscious girl supported by his hands. He didn't really expect an answer, but he did expect the hesitation. Decades now they had both been there, so many years he'd lost count of them. The kids, no he reminded himself, not kids anymore, they weren't fully grown yet, but they weren't kids, and he couldn't keep letting them off as if they were, no matter how much they seemed it to him. The two hadn't been apart more than a few days in all that time. "Well Hiei? Which is it?"

There was another long second of quiet. The red eyes he looked down into were cold suddenly, colder than he'd ever recalled seeing them, and the smaller demon's shoulders were tense as he turned away to begin walking again. "Keep her." There might have been more to the statement, but if there had been Hiei didn't say it.

"I'll keep an eye on her." He promised quietly as the dark haired boy turned to continue his path away from their home. He watched until Hiei vanished in a blur before carrying the girl back toward the cave and inside.

XXX

"What do you mean gone!?" His knuckles hurt from striking the wall, and his head from the chunk of rock that had fallen on it as a consequence of the punch. Everything in the cave was perfectly in place, nothing missing or moved in any way. It looked exactly as it had when they'd left, with one exception. There was no winged girl keeping watch over it all. "I told you to watch her!" He snarled, turning toward one of the others, the one that had volunteered to stay behind with the girl.

"I was Boss… I swear she was just here… and I didn't hear anything, she couldn't have been taken or…"

"Of course she wasn't taken you idiot!" He almost hit the wall again, but stopped short, his knuckles throbbing to remind him not to. "Think for a damned second… where the hell do you think she went?"

"Maybe it's for the best…" One of them said quietly to another, obviously trying to keep from being overheard and failing miserably, "Without her here, he's got no reason to come back…"

In his fury he might have broken the demon's neck on his way out the door. He'd just have to check when he got back.

XXX

He didn't like the coat, but it helped him blend in, if it was even possible for him to blend in here in the human world. It also covered the throbbing wound in his side that had started bleeding again. It made walking hard, hell it made standing hard. He was supposed to be somewhere around this city, but so far it hadn't been easy to find the brat. Thankfully in the crowd no one seemed to have noticed him, he blamed the hat he'd placed on his head to hide his horns and the coat that kept him mostly covered.

A smile tugged at his lips when he saw her, when she let him see her, he'd known she was following for a few minutes now, probably just checking to make sure, but the shape he'd been expecting didn't appear near her as she walked toward him, stopping just short of where he stood, and heedless the crowd of humans swarmed past them, splitting like a river at a fork and converging again once they'd gone past. For a long second he was quiet as she blinked up at him with large light blue eyes. "Hi, little bit."

"Sir…" She dipped her head a little, and then glanced back up questioningly.

"Well, where is he?" He was starting to get dizzy, and blamed it on the wound, but did everything he could to keep from showing it. There was something he needed to do.

"Not here." She answered quietly, "I'm sorry… I don't know where he is." He knew in an instant that she wasn't lying, he'd never seen this girl look that sad; it couldn't possibly be a lie.

Then she hadn't found him yet either. He was frozen for a second staring at her and trying to stay on his feet. This ruined his plans a little, but didn't derail them entirely. "Then what are you doing here?"

"Surviving..." She gave him a small half smile, "I guess some of the things you tried to teach me did rub off."

"Another new life huh? What you up to now? Five names…?"

"Six." She answered quietly, "I think."

"Yeah, what's the real one?" It was almost a running joke, he'd been trying to figure out since he'd found out Hiei had provided the name she went by what her original one was. She would always answer the same way.

"Kotori," She answered quietly, looking down, "That's the only one I think counts."

Feeling his strength slipping again he took a step out of the crowd, he needed to get a move on. "Little bit I need you to…" He wavered, and slumped over against the wall of a building they were standing beside.

"Sir…!"It was the only name she'd ever called him, and that's how she used it, as a name rather than a title. She was beside him so quickly he wondered if she'd moved before he had, wide blue eyes filled with concern.

"It's nothing… I want you to tell him something… the next time you see him…" He panted between labored breaths, trying to ignore that he was slipping further down the wall, and slapping her glowing hands away from him when she began searching for a problem. It was too late, even for her healing abilities to do anything but prolong the suffering of this wound. She couldn't save him, but he knew Kotori was not the type to accept that, she would try until she collapsed, and at the moment that was dangerous.

"I… I might not see him for a very long time…"

"Maybe sooner that you think..." He hit the cement sidewalk on his knees and allowed her to guide him into a sitting position, didn't shove her hands away when she went for the wound this time, it was too late to even prolong it now, but as she tried he leaned over to whisper against her ear, felt her stiffen and turn to look at him, "Now get moving…" He whispered finally, barely able to force his head back against the wall behind him, "find our boy little bit."

"Sir…" He glared when she didn't move away from him, and he was surprised to see a sort of acceptance in her shockingly sad eyes, her hands weren't glowing, "there's something I've wanted to ask for a long time."

"Hurry up kid, I don't have all day."

The gruff tone seemed to steady her some, and he watched as her trembling hands returned to her sides. "I've only heard you called… what's your real name?"

"Don't be dumb kid… why do you think I called him Junior?"


End file.
